December 6, 2000
BP and Phillips Charter Contributions May Fund New Economic Development Center at University of Alaska

BP and Phillips Petroleum Co. today presented the University of Alaska Foundation with checks totaling $2.537 million, the first annual contributions under the terms of the companies' charter agreement with the State of Alaska.

Richard Campbell, president of BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., and Kevin O. Meyers, president of Phillips Alaska, Inc. presented the checks to Grace Schaible, president of the Board of Trustees of the UA Foundation. Governor Tony Knowles, who recommended the UA contribution as his administration negotiated the charter agreement, and UA President Mark R. Hamilton, both spoke at the presentation ceremony.

BPs contribution was $1.449 million, and the Phillips contribution was $1.088 million, for a total just over $2.5 million. Expressing the university1s gratitude to Gov. Knowles and to BP and Phillips, Hamilton said, "The university will focus these funds on addressing how Alaska can develop a more diversified and self-sufficient economy that is sustainable over the long term and how the university can contribute to that challenge."

Hamilton said he would recommend that the university use the funds to develop a center to be named in the near future with appropriate recognition to BP and Phillips for their generosity. He said the purpose of the center over the next several years would be to build the university1s capacity to perform the research and to prepare the workforce that will play a major role in Alaska1s economic future.

"A prime example of a focus for the center would be research and workforce preparation for the design, construction and operation o" the natural gas pipeline likely to be constructed in the coming years,2 Hamilton said. "As the center develops and demonstrates its value to the state, it would add to or shift its focus to other opportunities."

Campbell and Meyers said the contributions mark the beginning of a new era in the relationship between the university and the oil industry that will prove beneficial to Alaskans over the years. The total dollar amount of the two companies' combined annual contributions to the Foundation will vary with production and price, but estimates range from $2.5 million to more than $4 million per year.