deal is in motion
Houston energy co. accelerates Beaumont storage expansion after key investment deal
With the acquisition of its Texas business now complete, Houston-based Caliche Development Partners is moving ahead with expansion of a natural gas storage project in Beaumont.
This milestone comes after a previously announced majority investment in Caliche by New York City-based investment firm Sixth Street, which has offices in Houston, Austin, and Dallas. Sixth Street recently closed on the Texas portion of the deal, and it expects to wrap up the California portion of the deal in mid-2025.
The amount of Sixth Street’s investment in Caliche wasn’t disclosed.
Completion of the deal’s Texas component gave Caliche the go-ahead to start spending Sixth Street’s money on the Beaumont project.
Caliche already has started construction on the 14 billion-cubic-feet expansion of its Golden Triangle Storage natural gas storage facilities. Two new caverns, expected to come online in 2026 and 2027, will double total storage capacity to 28 billion cubic feet (Bcf).
The Golden Triangle Storage system connects to seven major pipelines in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area.
Meanwhile, Caliche has started construction on what’s billed as the world’s largest helium storage cavern, also located at the Golden Triangle site. This cavern is slated to begin operating in 2025, while Caliche expects its planned carbon sequestration project located just four miles west of Golden Triangle to enter the next phase of the Class VI permitting process by May 2026.
Caliche is an acquisition and development company that specializes in underground storage of natural gas, industrial gasses like hydrogen and helium, and carbon emissions. Caliche’s projects are in the Texas Gulf Coast’s Jefferson County and Northern California’s Colusa County.