In this fast-paced geopolitical strategy simulation, participants step into the role of Senior Vice President of International Upstream & Geopolitical Strategy at Apex Petroleum Corporation. As the sole remaining major U.S. operator in Venezuela, Apex faces an existential dilemma: the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued a conditional 90-day General License (GL-41A) authorizing crude off-take strictly for debt amortization with an absolute zero-cash-to-regime restriction, while state-owned partner PetroSur has issued a 30-day ultimatum demanding $500 million in immediate drilling capital under threat of concession forfeiture to Eurasian state consortiums.
Learners evaluate conflicting recommendations from internal C-suite stakeholders representing four mutually exclusive postures: immediate unconditional exit (Option A), commercial expansion and host co-funding (Option B), care-and-maintenance mothballing (Option C), and a ring-fenced debt-amortization extraction model (Option D). Participants must diagnose legal constraints, inspect metallurgical integrity audits and cash-flow models, and defend their recommendation in a live executive briefing with CEO Conrad Sterling before submitting their formal Board rationale.
This simulation challenges learners to move past simplistic binary thinking—such as immediate surrender or reckless expansion—and instead apply the Integration-Responsiveness (I-R) Political Risk Framework. Facilitators can use this case to explore sovereign risk management, sanctions compliance arbitrage, physical asset specificity, and the strategic preservation of long-term option value.
Learning objectives
- How to apply the Integration-Responsiveness (I-R) Political Risk Framework to balance home regulatory legitimacy against host operational responsiveness.
- How to separate legal statutory compliance from emotional risk aversion when evaluating sovereign exit versus engagement.
- Why physical asset specificity (such as extra-heavy crude coagulation and upgrader metallurgy) constrains passive "care-and-maintenance" holding postures.
- How ring-fenced escrow mechanisms allow multinational corporations to recover stranded sovereign receivables within strict regulatory boundaries.
About the authors
LiveCase Studio produces interactive, decision-driven learning simulations for executive development programs and global business schools. Its case environments synthesize real-world corporate crises, quantitative rigor, and dynamic AI roleplays to develop strategic judgment under pressure.
LiveCase Studio
LiveCase Studio designs immersive, framework-driven executive simulations that place decision-makers at the center of high-stakes corporate, geopolitical, and operational dilemmas.
Who is this for?
Senior executives, corporate strategists, legal and compliance officers, and business students studying international strategy, geopolitical risk management, and energy sector governance.
FAQ
LiveCase is an educational and training simulation tool that immerses participants into a situation.
Please feel free to reach out to us for a demo.
Simply contact us and we'll be happy to give you a demo.
Yes! For all cases authored by LiveCase we can provide extensive Teaching Notes.
We can't make them public to avoid participants getting a hold of them, but you can simply reach out to us.
You get to choose in the next step. If you "Host" (Instruct) the case, you can pick during the setup if you want to pay for the participants or they pay by themselves.
We offer several options for payment depending on the situations
If you are Hosting
- If the participants pay for the case, they will be requested to pay before joining the case.
- If the host pays, we ask you to purchase your expected number of seats. If you need more, you can purchase more later. If you bought too many, please contact us to arrange a reimbursement.
- Get pre-approved: You can get pre-approved for Invoice billing at a later date. If interested, please reach out to us.
The purchase of the seat has no time limit except if the case is removed (hasn't happened yet), or if the methodology has changed too much.
In the extremely unlikely scenario, you can simply contact us for a reimbursement.
If there is a problem with the payment, please contact us and we will be happy to help.