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Falcon Gas Storage Co. “went from a standing start to two projects with more than $300 million in aggregate capital expenditures in less than a year,” President and CEO John Hopper explains. “That type of growth is not unheard of, but it’s definitely in the top 1 percent.”

Falcon Gas Storage was founded in 2000 to capitalize on demand for high-deliverability, multi-cycle (HDMC) storage services, the company says. At that time, it explains, “natural gas had emerged as the fuel of choice for space heating and electric power generation, and North American gas production was lagging behind the burgeoning demand.”

Houston-based Falcon – and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies – is one of the largest developers and operators of HDMC natural gas storage capacity in the United States. The company’s NorTex Gas Storage subsidiary owns and operates more than 30 billion cubic feet per day (bcf) of gas storage capacity and 750,000 million cubic feet per day (mcfd) of deliverability at its Hill-Lake and Worsham-Steed gas storage facilities, as well as 450,000 mcfd of gas transportation capacity, serving Dallas/Ft. Worth and the Waha and Carthage Market Hubs in Texas.

Through its MoBay Storage Hub LLC affiliate, Falcon also is developing a a more than 50 bcf HDMC gas storage project in southern Alabama with 1.0 bcfd of injection and withdrawal capacity.

In addition, Falcon subsidiaries also are involved in crude oil production, including enhanced oil recovery, natural gas processing and liquids production, and gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) trading.

‘Far Up on the List’
Hopper says Falcon aims to continue building gas storage capacity and eventually become the largest independently owned gas storage company in the United States.

“We’re already the second-largest gas storage company in north Texas and fourth largest in all of Texas,” he states. “As we expand into Alabama, New Mexico and other major U.S. markets, we’re aiming to get to at least 100 bcf of working gas storage capacity, which would put us pretty far up there on the list.”

The company’s rapid growth is due to its ability to mobilize quickly. “We were fully operational pretty much from the get-go,” Hopper explains. “We acquired two existing highly underutilized facilities in north Texas within a year after founding Falcon that had pretty much been ‘orphaned’ by the prior owner, a gas and electric utility, and we were able to mobilize our people very quickly to start expanding one of the facilities for HDMC service right after we acquired it. We’re pretty fast on our feet.”

Employing “highly motivated, very talented” people is part of Falcon Gas’ recipe for success, Hopper says. “We’re a very entrepreneurial culture. And, every employee owns stock options, which encourages them to literally take ownership in the company and its growth.”

Falcon Gas also benefits from an experienced management team. Hopper has significant experience in all facets of the energy business. Prior to founding Falcon, he was president and CEO of Inventory Management and Distribution Co. Inc. from 1994 to 2000. The company, which he co-founded, pioneered the commercial optimization of gas storage and pipeline transportation assets for local distribution companies during the early phases of pipeline unbundling.            

Previously, Hopper had held various executive positions with Tejas Power Corp. from 1989 to 1994, including oversight of business development, regulatory affairs, marketing and storage development. He also served as Tejas general counsel and was a member of the management committee.

Prior to joining Tejas, Hopper was a member of the Butler & Binion law firm, specializing in oil and gas transactions as well as regulatory matters. As an energy lawyer, he was involved with a case that was instrumental in the FERC order that required natural gas pipelines to fully unbundle their services and led to a competitive market for natural gas in the United States.

He earned a Juris Doctorate degree with honors from South Texas College of Law in 1980 and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas in 1976.