There are few business executives to whom global warming is more relevant. Climate change is on Paul Habelko's mind when he draws up his 20-year business plans.

Habelko is Manager of Strategy and Planning at Chevron Global Gas.

"Environmental issues, including greenhouse gases, come to the forefront," he said, speaking from the energy giant's headquarters in San Ramon, California. "Chevron has established a whole unit on the policy side to make sure we are responsive to government, industry and shareholder concerns. On another front, we are conducting research looking at the next generation of biofuels - ones that don't use food but cellulose - the waste product of food production."

Habelko graduated from the Australian National University in 1981 with a BSc (Honours) in geology. He also has an MBA from Macquarie University and INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.

His career in oil and gas began with a job as a geophysicist at Exxon. He later worked as an energy consultant for London-based Gaffney, Cline and Associates, travelling around the globe to assess projects for clients including the World Bank. He then joined Norway-based Statoil, holding senior management positions, one of which involved overseeing the company's Russian operations.

Returning to Australia, he joined Chevron as its Commercial Manager for the North West Shelf Project in 2002 but has worked at the company's US headquarters since 2005. He is responsible for strategic development for the group's global Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Gas to Liquids, shipping, power generation, pipeline and gas trading businesses world wide.

His work at the multinational, which employs almost 60,000 people and which in 2007 produced 2.62 million barrels of oil equivalent each day, comes at a time when new technology is opening up previously inaccessible oil and gas reserves. It also comes at a time of great uncertainty, but Habelko says geologists, accustomed to interpreting the deep past, are comfortable with uncertainty.

"The company's core business is oil and gas. It will be that way for some time, but it's not as if we will just rest on that," he says. "We know the industry has changed and will continue to evolve, and we produce energy. The future might lie in geothermal power and alternative fuels. It's such a large company, it will continue to hold a large slice of the energy pie but it has to adapt in line with our shareholders' wishes."

Although Habelko loves his job, he does sometimes yearn for fieldwork.

"Whenever geologists come in talking about prospects and flying around the globe to drill oil wells, I long for that hands-on work. In my days in the field I was really close to where it was all happening. Strategic planning tends to be a little more abstract. You wonder how close to reality you are."