Dr. Prabhakar Thakur holds a doctorate in Geology. Prior to joining Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), spent over a decade working with multinational companies in both domestic and international oil and gas fields. At HPCL’s upstream division, he played a key role in leading the Exploration & Production (E&P) technical and business development teams. Dr. Thakur later served as the Chief Executive Officer of Prize Petroleum Co. Ltd. (PPCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of HPCL, and as a Director for Prize Petroleum International Pte. Ltd., Singapore its overseas subsidiary. 

In March 24, Dr. Thakur joined the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) to head the newly created Hydrocarbon Efficiency and New Energy (HENE) department, an initiative by the Government of India. His current focus is on enhancing upstream hydrocarbon efficiency and leading efforts towards emerging geological energy sources, such as geothermal energy and natural hydrogen.