The month that has just ended is the first in two years in which the price of helium seems to stabilize and decrease. Supply and demand are finally finding a balance and the market seems to be leaving behind “the worst helium crisis we have had since 2000,” explains José Carlos Pascual, head of the on-site generation gases and helium market at the firm Nippon Gases Iberia. Transfer prices have risen since 2021 due to the war in Ukraine and a technical problem at a Russian field, which was considered the largest in the world. «By 2020 it was expected that it would come into operation and that Russia would contribute up to 20% of the global total of helium, and that this percentage would rise in about five years to 30-40%.», he details.
Around the world, helium is extracted and refined from natural gas deposits. «It comes from a few places: the United States, Algeria and Qatar (these last two, countries not always stable). As Russia was expected to start producing and the demand for helium has always remained quite stable, the market prepared itself. The rest of the competitors stopped producing the more expensive helium and plants were left in backup. Then the conflict arrived and supply and demand became unbalanced,” he continues.
The first news about this crisis began to appear in the press in 2022. Laboratories such as the MRI laboratory at Mississippi State University were running out of reserves and seeing their orders delayed. “Every 12 weeks, the university pays between $5,000 and $6,000 for liquid helium, which it uses to cool the superconducting wire coiled inside the magnets to -269º,” MIT Technology Review reported at the time.
But what is helium used for?
We have heard a lot about rare earths, the lack of copper or silver, but perhaps less about this noble gas, as rare as it is valuable. It is the second most abundant element in the universe, but has very limited geological availability on Earth. Geologically rare and difficult to access, it has physical and chemical properties that make it vital in various applications in the medical attention (up to 32% of demand), electronics, the aerospace industry or communications. In liquid form, helium is the coldest material on Earth and is therefore used as cryogenic coolant.
«It is formed very slowly from the radioactive decay of heavy elements inside the Earth. Once it escapes into the atmosphere, it is lost in space and cannot be recovered. It is almost always obtained as a byproduct of natural gas, but not all gas fields contain enough helium to make its extraction profitable. In addition, more and more is needed for various applications. For example, in scientific research it is required to work at four degrees Kelvin (-269 °C), essential for magnetism or electron microscopy measurements”, details Xavi Ribas, from the Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis of the Department of Chemistry of the University of Girona.
Its applications are so many that, in Europe, for example, it is part of the list of critical raw materials. «It is used as a coolant for many applications, such as cooling MRI magnets. In addition, it offers many advantages for space research because it reproduces the same extreme cold conditions of space. On the other hand, since the molecule is very small, it is used to detect leaks. Its density makes it ideal for use in probe balloons that are launched into space to take measurements, and, as it has little thermal conductivity, it is used for semiconductor manufacturinga market in which it is having more and more demand,” says Pascual.
Demand and recycling
While the crisis has been active, remembers this expert in the helium market, “many applications have looked for substitutes. This is the case of magnetic resonance imaging, where a lot of research has been done. Now, large companies like Siemens or Philips have equipment that requires up to 70% less helium», says Pascual. Furthermore, «although it cannot be confirmed, the Russian field is already operational. “Europe sanctions companies that buy from Russia, but it is very possible that the gas is entering the market through third parties,” he adds.
Another way to overcome this crisis has come from recycling. «In the last ten years, all research systems that were based on liquid helium have been transformed into closed cycle systems; the helium keeps recirculating inside. To give us an idea, a closed cycle costs approximately twice as much, but taking into account the current price of helium, in about three years of use the investment has been perfectly amortized. Before, everyone opted for open cycle systems because helium was very cheap, but today almost no one considers using these systems,” says Carlos Montero, associate professor at the Faculty of Chemistry at the Complutense University of Madrid.
Next crisis
The international situation is so complex that it is difficult to estimate when the next shortage will occur, although operators are sure that sooner or later it will happen again. Russia promises to put large quantities of this gas on the market when free trade relations are reestablished, but demand promises to be increasing, first from the superconducting industry and then from quantum computing.
«Quantum computing is based on an effect called the superposition principle, which allows a computer to evaluate many options at the same time. Imagine that you had to look for a number among a billion: a conventional computer would go number by number and it would take about 16 minutes. In a quantum computer, it is estimated that doing the same operation would take about 30 microseconds. The jump in speed is enormous. But nowadays everyone Quantum computers need to lower the temperature below one absolute degree Kelvin to achieve that quantum effect. And to achieve that cold, yes or yes you need to work with liquid helium. Helium has the characteristic that its liquefaction or evaporation temperature is very low; “It is the substance that liquefies at the lowest temperature, which gives it key characteristics when you want to cool something to extremely low temperatures,” explains Montero. In addition, he points out that helium is also essential in the development of nuclear fusion reactors.
“We must not forget that it is also used in space rockets: as the fuel is used up, to maintain the pressure in the tank, helium is injected, which occupies the space of the consumed fuel,” he concludes.
A federal helium reserve
►The large reserves of Siberia make Russia one of the main players in this helium race. Qatar, Algeria, Australia and Canada also have deposits, as does Poland, an exceptional case within the EU.
For its part, the United States was the main producer until the 90s, it even had the Federal Helium Reserve, an entity that it created in 1925 with the intention of it serving as a warehouse. However, after decades of controlling the global price and supply of helium, the country stopped being first in market share before 2000 and even began to dismantle the federal reserve in 2021. The last remaining helium was sold only years later, in 2024. The consequences are that agencies like NASA will have to pay more for helium, according to a report in the MIT Technology Review at the time. «After the changes in federal law, there is greater participation of the private sector in international markets. These supply changes are raising concerns about the supply of helium for research and industry,” notes the report “Global Supply and Demand for Helium Resources: Geopolitical Supply Risk Analysis,” published in 2023 in ScienceDirect.