Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe, but on Earth it’s relatively rare, found trapped underground with natural gas and in the atmosphere, where it escapes into space. On earth there are key locations where concentrated helium can be harvested. The US National Helium Reserve, which extracts gas from under the American Great Plains, is responsible for around 30% of the words helium supply. More recently countries including Russia, Qatar, Algeria and Australia have created helium plants.
The values above are estimated helium resources from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summary
As a result of a 1996 law that forced the US government to sell off its helium reserve at off at increasingly cheap prices, the countries stockpile could soon dwindle, with the Helium Privatization Act calling for the Bureau of Land Management to sell the reserve to private refiners by 2015. More recently, scheduled maintenance in several of the world’s natural gas refineries have disrupted supply and with increasing demand for helium from countries including China, we come even closer to a worldwide shortage. New uses for helium have also expanded demand, but supply has remained at a similar level.
In the USA the only new domestic production of helium is in Wyoming, with much of the US stockpile being sold off by 2015. Of the other countries producing helium export is very limited. As supplies diminish, costs of helium are rising and these companies will profit, but only in the short term, as we move closer to the possible disappearance of helium altogether! Many scientists are predicting that this will be in approx. 25 years!
>> Download the full Application Note as PDF
Newsletters
Receive the latest analytical science news, personalities, education, and career development – weekly to your inbox.
