With the entry of an estimated 25% in new global capacity in the market in late 2013 and early 2014, the helium business of 2016 continues to find itself in a state of over-supply.
How long for, is another question entirely, but there is little doubt about the changing face of the industry throughout recent decades.
The start-up the Qatar II plant, the world’s largest helium purification and liquefaction unit at Ras Laffan, and expansion of the Skikda plant in Algeria have perhaps been the most notable additions in capacity in recent years, while Air Products’s Doe Canyon plant in Colorado, US heralded a significant new dawn in helium sourcing, derived as it is from a naturally occurring carbon dioxide (CO2) stream.
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