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ConocoPhillips Alaska’s Jim Bowles dies Company president leaves legacy of community involvement; Bowles, Alan Gage of Conoco killed in avalanche while snowmachining Petroleum News
Jim Bowles, 57, president of ConocoPhillips Alaska, died Feb. 13 in an avalanche. Also killed was Alan Gage, 40, a member of the company’s capital projects organization.
The men were part of a group of about a dozen who were snowmachining on the Kenai Peninsula.
Bowles was retired — after a career with ConocoPhillips’ predecessor Phillips Petroleum Co. — when he was named president of ConocoPhillips Alaska in 2004.
He told the Anchorage Daily News in an interview after he arrived in Anchorage that the opportunity to hunt and fish in Alaska were “draws to me” in coming out of retirement to accept the Alaska job. Bowles replaced Kevin Meyers, who left Alaska to head up ConocoPhillips’ operations in Russia and the Caspian Sea region.
Bowles had retired from Phillips in 2002 after 28 years. In his Phillips’ career he held drilling and production assignments, was vice president of the company’s gas gathering and processing subsidiary, deputy managing director of the Norway division and president of Phillips’ Americas division, which included the company’s Alaska operations prior to Phillips’ acquisition of ARCO Alaska’s assets.
State’s largest producer ConocoPhillips Alaska is the state’s largest oil and gas producer. The company operates the Kuparuk River and Alpine fields on the North Slope, is a major owner at Prudhoe Bay and has interests from Point Thomson in the east to the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in the west. Conoco also has interests in Cook Inlet, operating the Beluga River field, the North Cook Inlet field and the Nikiski liquefied natural gas plant.
Bowles was involved in negotiations with former Gov. Frank Murkowski over a gas pipeline. After the Alaska Legislature failed to approve state partnership in a gas pipeline, and Gov. Sarah Palin won approval for the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, ConocoPhillips joined BP in establishing the Denali gas pipeline project, a competitor with the AGIA-licensed TransCanada-ExxonMobil gas pipeline proposal.
ConocoPhillips also won a renewal of its export license for the Nikiski LNG plant under Bowles in a deal that guaranteed more gas drilling in Cook Inlet in exchange for the state’s support of the export license.
Bowles was caught up in the corruption trials of Alaska legislators when the FBI taped a phone conversation between Bowles and Bill Allen, then president of VECO Corp. Allen was convicted of bribing legislators.
As the Anchorage Daily News reported the incident in a story on Bowles’ years in Alaska, “Nothing in the conversation indicated Bowles knew Allen had bribed legislators.”
The Daily News also quoted a statement Bowles sent to company employees after the taped conversation came out that said VECO had “cast a pall on the image of our company and our industry in Alaska.”
Legacy in state Statements after Bowles’ death reflect his legacy in the state.
Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan said: “Jim’s generosity in giving back to our community set a high standard for Alaska business leaders. His legacy of investment in our community and commitment to the people of our state was an example to all of us.” Sullivan said he had toured the ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building at the University of Alaska Anchorage which, he said, “became reality under Jim’s leadership.”
“Jim brought so much to our state,” said Gov. Sean Parnell, “his love of the great outdoors, his leadership of ConocoPhillips Alaska and his dedication to making Alaska a better place for all of us to call home.”
The members of Alaska’s congressional delegation all issued statements.
U.S. Rep. Don Young said Bowles “was a true Alaskan, and a great man, and he will be dearly missed.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski called Bowles “a great partner in the responsible development of Alaska’s natural resources. He truly loved Alaska and spending time outdoors,” she said.
“During his nearly six years as president of ConocoPhillips Alaska, Jim Bowles left a legacy of solid corporate leadership and excellent community leadership,” said U.S. Sen. Mark Begich. He said that last year alone ConocoPhillips contributed $13 million to hundreds of Alaska nonprofits, from environmental causes to health care.
“Jim set the bar high for the 900 employees of his company in Alaska, volunteering his time to make the community and state better,” Begich said.
—The Anchorage Daily News contributed to this story
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