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Palmer is retired and lives in Anchor - age with his wife, Sheila, an epidemiol- ogist, also retired. The couple have two grown children, a daughter, Aneliese, co-counsel for IBEW Local 1547, and a son, Colin, a regulatory and financial analyst at Chugach Electric Association.
er pushed hard against this and usu- ally prevailed, arguing that BP needed strong relationships with local compa- nies that employed Alaskans. There were tense years for the in- dustry through Palmer’s career with BP. Helping the company, and the industry, get through those years required a cool head and the ability to see through the crisis of the day to a bigger picture.
having one field operator at Prudhoe Bay instead of two, the prospect of the two largest Alaska operating compa- nies becoming one was too much for many Alaskans who feared a single company dominating the North Slope. On the national level, the Feder- al Trade Commission cast a wary eye. BP had recently acquired Amoco and a rush of mergers had raised concerns. Ultimately, former Gov. Tony Knowles approved the merger by requiring BP to divest ARCO’s Alaska operating com- pany, ARCO Alaska. Phillips Petroleum stepped up as buyer, and as it happened, Phillips had just become ConocoPhillips. The rest is history. BP took over as single operator at Prudhoe Bay, which achieved operating efficiencies, and the new ConocoPhillips became operator of the Kuparuk River and Alpine fields. This set the stage for ConocoPhillips to push exploration west into the Nation- al Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), which had already started with ARCO. Other things came from the merger including more explicit commitments to charities even though BP was already a major contributor to state nonprofits. At this time, Palmer was respon - sible for BP’s charitable giving as Vice President of External Affairs. One of his proudest accomplishments, he recalls, was the creation of the BP Energy Cen - ter. The Center was erected in a quiet wooded area on land next to the offices BP had built on Benson Boulevard in the 1980s in midtown Anchorage. The Energy Center was paid for, in- cluding operations support, by BP and was intended for free use by nonprofits. Later, when BP left Alaska and sold its assets to Hilcorp Energy, BP donated the Energy Center to the Alaska Communi- ty Foundation (ACF). The ACF contin- ues to operate it as a meeting space for nonprofits. Interestingly, Palmer was the Chairman of the Alaska Community Foundation at the time of the transfer. There were times when Palmer had to tell BP’s management things it didn’t want to hear. During period- ic cycles of low oil prices, Palmer at - tended BP’s Alaska executive meetings where frequent discussions about cut- ting costs and purchasing more from out-state-suppliers took place. Palm -
— Tim Bradner
Photo by BP Energy Center One of Palmer’s proudest accomplishments was the creation of the BP Energy Center. When BP left Alaska and sold its assets to Hilcorp Energy, BP donated the Center to the Alaska Community Foundation.
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THE LINK: The Official Magazine of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance | SUMMER 2026
www.AlaskaAlliance.com
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