Jeff Shellebarger is in charge of North American oil and gas production for the California-based oil giant Chevron Corp. He's Chevron's top executive in Houston, vice chairman of the Houston Super Bowl host committee and just became chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership.

He sat down with the Chronicle last week to talk about the Super Bowl, the future of energy, boosting Houston's national image and jump-starting technology here.

Q: Being chairman of the partnership is fraught with politics. Why did you agree to do it?

A: I have a deep passion for economic development. When you're an energy company, and you work in developing countries around the world, or you're in a small city and you're a big part of the economic climate, you get pulled into the community. I have a lot of experience working with stakeholders to get things done.

Q: What is the partnership's top priority for 2017?

A: We've got to execute these image opportunities: The marathon. The Super Bowl. The rodeo. We're on a global stage. We want that to look right.

And I think this idea of revisiting the strategic plan. That's the piece I'm going to push most in my role. What we want to do is step back and see where we progressed and reground ourselves on what priorities we need to grow sectors and add new ones. You never stop looking for opportunities to grow.

Q: You said recently Houston has the foundations to be a great city. What is it missing?

A: People in Houston need to recognize what a great city it already is and become ambassadors for it. It's the fourth-largest metro area in the U.S. Recognition of that fact would be helpful, so people start to consider Houston more as a destination. We have everything we need. It's building on that - and doing a little advertising.

Q: OK, but the partnership has developed a technology roundtable. What's the goal there?

A: I want to see the next step, which way we move to capitalize on building a new economic cluster in Houston.

Q: That's pretty vague.

A: I know. We have to narrow it down and make it more tangible to people. It starts with a clear definition of what the opportunity is for Houston. Some people say it's building an incubation center. Some say getting more venture capital funding. Some say it's getting an organization that can train and develop the kinds of people we need. Maybe it's all of the above.

Q: What does a post-fossil-fuel Houston look like?

A: We will continue to innovate and evolve and provide different technologies that serve our energy needs. Fossil fuels are going to be part of that energy equation for a long time. The world demand for energy is growing and it's an "all of the above" kind of strategy. You need renewables. You need new technology. You need fossil fuels. The mix of that energy will evolve over time - but we're talking about tens of years. I expect Houston will be adept enough to evolve with the changing mix.

Q: Dream, for a moment: Imagine a world 50 years from now. What would it look like?

A: That's a tough question. The world, as we evolve it, will become more efficient. You look at a television set or a refrigerator, and think about how much energy it uses now compared to before. More than anything else, you'll see this continual rollout of technology, and it will become more and more efficient. When that efficiency is there, and then demand changes, maybe your mix changes over time.

Q: What is Chevron's five-year road map?

A: Right now we're focused on bringing the costs of operation, the costs of development in line with what looks like a lower oil price environment going forward. We have a number of high-quality assets around the world. We want to make sure we develop them cost-effectively.

West Texas' Permian Basin is exciting for Texas. Things are going pretty well there for ourselves and for the industry: It's become one of the lowest-cost opportunities for the investment dollar. As we see the industry rebound, it's going to continue to attract a lot of attention.

Q: Why did Chevron agree to join Houston's Super Bowl host committee?

A: We've sponsored many Super Bowls in the past. On the retail side of our business, we think there's some brand image around that. Most importantly, the Super Bowl is important to the city of Houston.

Typically sponsors will line up their booths and hand out trinkets. We've created something called Super Bowl Live (at downtown's Discovery Green), to showcase the diversity of Houston - science education, the arts, high tech, the Medical Center, NASA. The hope is when people walk through Super Bowl Live, they'll walk away with a different appreciation, maybe, of the underlying fabric of Houston.

Q: One thing people shouldn't miss at the Super Bowl?

A: There's a NASA virtual reality tour. It's one of those drop towers, where you go up, and you stay at the top and you drop down. I'm not going to be the spoiler, but you're going to want to go see that also.