UNC Kenan-Flagler places third at NAPE/TCU Energy Case Competition

On February 9th, a group of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School students placed third in the Texas Christian University Neeley School of Business’s Energy Case Competition. The team consisted of three second-year MBAs and one first-year MBA: Josh Haswell, John MacAree, Jon Nichols and Rachel Michos.

In round one of the case, students were prompted to rank business priorities for Exploration and Production Oil and Gas companies in the United States. The teams were given the business priorities of capital discipline, improving ESG standards, navigating regulatory changes, and participating in strategic M&A. The teams had 72 hours to prepare a presentation and record it before submitting it to the case organizers. UNC Kenan-Flagler’s team was selected as one of four finalists from a group of 18 teams representing 12 of the top energy MBA programs throughout the country. The team traveled a few weeks later to the NAPE Summit in Houston, Texas, where they competed in round two.  

During finals, each team had five hours to prepare a presentation after receiving a twist in the prompt about how U.S. E&P firms could aid energy poverty support in either Nigeria, India or Bangladesh. Team UNC rebuilt their entire deck and presented their idea of increasing LNG imports to India by using a project finance joint venture leveraging the experience of super majors like ExxonMobil. After the finals, there was a reception hosted by AAPL where the winners were announced, Team UNC took home third place beating out the University of Texas,  Texas Christian University and Rice University taking first and second place respectively.  

The team also had the opportunity to present their solution on the NAPE Summit Expo floor at the Renewable Energy Pavilion the day after the competition. “Each team member’s unique skills and perspectives allowed us to swiftly create a plan for domestic energy producers to maintain profitability while tackling the challenge of global energy poverty,” said Rachel.   

The team said they look forward to next year and welcome the chance to compete for UNC Kenan-Flagler. 

Congratulations to the UNC Energy team!