Last year all the talk was of the impending Helium Cliff scenario and as 2013 began, it was clear that it would be a significant year for the global helium business.
With estimates that around 75% of the helium produced in 2013 came from natural gas production in the US, and 40% of the approximate 4.6 bn SCF of helium produced in the US each year sourced from the BLM helium reservoir in Amarillo, Texas, the future security of this resource was arguably the biggest development of last year.
Despite this, gasworld understood that the security of the Federal Helium Reserve would not be the end of tight times in the global helium market. Shortages still existed around the world as the start of production from new sources in Qatar, Algeria and the US were either delayed or ramping-up slower than anticipated.
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