Dr. Kurujit Nakornthap began his career in 1983 as a Civil Servant in the Ministry of Industry’s Department of Mineral Resources as Petroleum Engineer withresponsibility for Petroleum Exploration and Production supervision, and later, forenergy legal framework and international energy affairs.

In the year 2000, Dr. Kurujit was seconded by the Thai Government and appointed by the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Authority (MTJA) Board as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Authority (MTJA), with headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, where he served for 4 years from 1 October 2000 until 30 September 2004, with responsibilities for Exploration and Development of Gas Fields in the Joint Development Area (JDA). He was part of the team that negotiated, drafted, and concluded with key stakeholders the Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) and the Gas Sale Agreements (GSA) for the JDA. Dr. Kurujit was promoted to the post of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy until his retirement in October 2015.

After his retirement from Civil Service, he had also been appointed to serve in various official capacities, namely, Member of the National Reform Council (NRC : and its 1st Vice Chair of the Energy Reform Committee), Member of the National Reform Steering Assembly, Member of Thailand Research Council, Council Member of Khon Kaen University, Chairman of the Board of Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO), and the Thai Co-Chairman of Malaysia Thailand Joint Authority. Currently He is Member of the Council of State (Juridical Council), He has also been appointed as the Executive Director of thePetroleum and Energy Institute of Thailand since 2018 until present

Dr. Kurujit received his education from the University of Oklahoma, U.S.A. and graduated with the Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in 1983, all in Petroleum Engineering. He had also received various management trainings such as Diploma from Thailand’s National Defense College (2009), Senior Executive Programme (SEP 60) from the London Business School (2006), and Senior Executive Program of the Thai Civil Service Commission (2008).