The goal of this community is to help you secure jobs across the wider energy sector. That includes:
- Major Energy Firms (Trading houses, Utilities, Oil & Gas).
- Non-Energy Firms that manage their own energy assets or investments.
- Academia (PhD applications and research roles).
I have compiled a list of recent questions that candidates have faced in interview stages mostly between October 2025 and January 2026
( retrieved from student databases ).
You can also see below the company they were applying to.
When reading these questions we need to ask ourselves: "Could I answer this question under pressure (with maybe 1 minute of thinking)"?
Also, my answers to each question are in Classroom 6.3 compiled in the form of a PDF file. This PDF file has 5 more questions included as well (and answers).
1. Energy Quant (Power/Gas)
- BP: “Walk me through a forward-curve model you would use for power or gas. How do you handle seasonality, mean reversion, and spikes?”
- Shell Energy Trading: “Design a risk framework for an options book on power. Which metrics would you report daily, and how would you stress test extreme events?”
2. Energy Trader
- TotalEnergies: “Explain the spark spread and how it links fuel prices, heat rate, and power prices. When does a plant dispatch?”
- Trafigura: “You have a short physical position for next month. How would you hedge it with futures, swaps, and optionality, and what basis risks remain?”
3. Electricity Market Analyst (ISO/Utility)
- National Grid ESO: “Explain Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP): what are its components, and what data does the market-clearing optimization need?”
- EPRI: “How would you build a day-ahead load forecast and quantify uncertainty? Which error metrics matter most for operations?”
4. Project Finance Analyst
- Macquarie: “Define DSCR and explain how it drives debt sizing. What DSCR range would you expect for a contracted wind or solar project?”
- MUFG: “Model a project with a 12-year PPA and a merchant tail. What assumptions are most sensitive, and how would you defend them?”
5. Energy Consultant (Strategy/Decarbonisation)
- McKinsey Sustainability: “Describe an energy-efficiency or decarbonisation project you delivered. How did you quantify savings and verify results?”
- Bain: “A client wants net-zero, but only approves projects with payback under 3 years. How do you prioritise the abatement portfolio?”