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 that Gazprom’s Amur project would begin pumping large quantities of helium into the market by the fourth quarter (Q4) of 202, averting another extended period of short supply.
However, after briefly producing helium for a few weeks in September, the Amur helium plant in Russia was taken down to complete construction punch-list items. While Amur was shut down, the natural gas processing plants that produce feed gas for the first of three helium plants experienced a fire on 8th October and a second explosion/fire on 5th January that will delay Amur’s helium production until at least Q3 of 2022. How long it will take to restart helium production from Amur remains to be seen, with speculation ranging from the most optimistic late Q3 to more pessimistic predictions that Amur will produce little, if any, helium before 2023.
With the BLM down again for unplanned maintenance in January for what seems likely to be several months, and expectations for reduced production from Qatar during February and March due to planned maintenance, several of the helium majors have declared Force Majeure and are now allocating supply to their customers. With no real relief in sight until Amur production ramps up and the prospect of another lengthy period of short supply, the global helium business finds itself in the midst of Helium Shortage 4.0.
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