For over 40 years, Butterworth Laboratories has provided independent, contract analytical services to the global pharmaceutical and related industries.
Summary of the Present Helium Supply Problem
14 May 2025
The fourth period of global helium shortages (HS 4.0) in the last 16 years ended during Q1 to Q2 of 2024, when the market finally returned to a plentiful market supply. Unsettling publications regarding general supply issues focus on the finite nature of helium and the nightmare backdrop of ‘running out’. However, none of these periods of shortage had anything to do with the magnitude of helium resources (production proven) or reserves (geological estimates).
As discussed in my previous blog, these have arisen from industrial accidents, fires that destroyed extraction plants, unplanned maintenance, geopolitical events, and poor management of the US Federal Helium Reserve, which has historically been the dominant global source. It will be interesting to see how private industry manages the various elements of the reserve since the Federal government divested it on June 27, 2024. Helium was first identified in US natural gas sources in 1903. In 1925, the Federal Helium Act nationalised the industry and founded the Federal Reserve on the grounds of national interest. A close review also shows that ever-increasing prices are not contingent solely on production levels. For example, in 2016, the total world production was 160 million m3 at $7.2 per m3. 2019 was 160 million m3 at $7.6 per m3. 2023 was 170 million m3 at $14.0 per m3. After increased prices from HS 1.0 to 4.0, prices never returned to the pre-shortage baseline.
The two most significant immediate problems concerning bulk helium supply to global markets are (1) the availability and location of highly specialised international marine bulk cargo vessels and (2) the availability in the right place at the right time of ISO standard 11,000 US ga road haulage tanks. Significantly, the US Federal government has stated that if it finds that anyone has used US-owned ISO tanks to transport Russian helium, this will result in unspecified sanctions.
The next blog, and the final in this series, will share my view of what the ‘Real’ problem regarding long-term global helium supply is.