If it’s widely accepted that Helium Shortage 4.0 began on 1st July 2021, here Phil Kornbluth looks at whether it’s likely we’ll still be in its midst by 1st July 2023.
After a series of events that had negative implications for helium supply since the beginning of 2022, there have been several recent developments that bode well for improved supply during the second half of 2022.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has dominated the news in recent days and the eventual outcome of the Ukraine crisis remains very uncertain. It is too early to know how things will turn out, how long...
When helium markets tightened up during the second half of 2021 due primarily to a four month maintenance outage of the US Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) crude helium enrichment unit, the industry consensus was...
New information about the explosion and fire that took place at Gazprom’s Amur natural gas processing facility on 5th January indicates that helium production will remain offline for at least the next six months.
Helium has not been included in the US Geological Survey’s (USGS) 2021 Draft List of Critical Minerals, published in the Federal Register on 9th November.
At a time when helium supply would be ample if the major sources were operating normally and helium markets are anticipating a significant influx of new supply from Gazprom’s Amur Project by the end of...
One result of the recurring shortages that helium markets experienced during the last decade has been an unprecedented amount of interest in exploring for helium among small start-up companies.
Since Covid-19 took a chunk out of helium demand and brought Helium Shortage 3.0 to a rather abrupt end in February 2020, there has been a relative lack of headline events impacting helium markets. The...
Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia announced that it was restoring diplomatic relations with Qatar and immediately lifting its air, land and sea embargo that has been in place for more than three and a half...
