What is Helium?
Helium is an odorless, colorless and tasteless gas that is a byproduct of natural gas. It is a non-renewable resource that is used in medical imaging, fiber optics and semiconductor manufacturing, laser welding, leak detection, aerospace, superconductivity development, defense and energy programs.
Helium facts
- The U.S. government became interested in helium during World War I. The Army valued it as a safe, noncombustible alternative to hydrogen for use in buoyant aircraft.
- Congress created the Federal Helium Program in 1925 to ensure that helium would be available to the government for defense needs.
- Demand for helium increased after World War II, so Congress passed amendments to the Helium Act in 1960. These amendments provided incentives for private natural gas producers to extract helium from natural gas and sell it to the government. They also required the Bureau of Mines to set prices on the helium it sold that would cover the program's costs and repay its debts.
- Private demand exceeded federal demand by the 1990s.
- The 1996 Helium Privatization Act paved the way for the Bureau of Land Management to be responsible for operating the Federal Helium Reserve and providing enriched crude helium to private refiners.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management
A global helium shortage that has caused balloon retailers to scramble for tanks of the gas and raise their prices is expected to last into 2013, according to an official with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.
Local welding and gas companies and balloon retailers rely on helium, which is a non-renewable resource and considered to be a much safer gas to use. The gas also is used by high-tech businesses and hospitals.
Mark Specht, owner of Balloons Galore & Gifts in The Marketplace of Settler’s Walk in Springboro, said helium prices have gone up 145 percent since April. When helium was plentiful, Specht could get up to seven tanks in a single purchase and each tank would fill about 500 ballons. Now, Specht struggles to purchase two tanks.
“I’ve done this for 24 years and this is the worst it has ever been,” Specht said. “When we do corporate or wedding décor, we’re trying to promote air-filled designs and products because helium is just getting so darn expensive.”
Like many balloon retailers, helium is a necessity for Specht; balloons are about 70 percent of his business.
Tom Newman of the Warehouse Utility unit for Matheson Gas, 3319 W. Successful Way in Dayton, said although the company is trying to do all it can to help meet the needs of its customers, orders for equipment that require speciality helium - which goes through a different purification process - take priority.
This speciality helium can be used for balloons, “but it’s more expensive,” Newman said.
“We’ve had to raise our prices on larger balloons,” Specht said, “Even raising (prices by) a dollar, I’m losing 13 percent on a large balloon because I am paying 145 percent more (for helium).”
“We are producing as much (helium) as we can, but we cannot keep up with the demand,” said Sam Burton, assistant field manager for the Bureau of Land Management’s Federal Helium Program in Amarillo, Texas. He said that the bureau offers 2.1 billion cubic feet of crude helium for sale a year.
The overseas demand for helium, a byproduct of natural gas, is increasing. For example, Asian markets have increased their helium requests by seven to 10 percent, Burton said.
“Natural gas fields are high in helium in the United States, but not overseas,” Burton said. “The good news is that we have a lot of it. It just needs to be extracted and purified.”
In 1929, the Bureau of Mines constructed a large helium extraction and purification plant just north of Amarillo. The government was the only domestic producer of helium from that time until 1960. That’s when Congress made amendments to the Helium Act, which provided incentives for private natural gas producers to extract helium and sell it to the government.
The 1996 Helium Privatization Act took the U.S. government out of the pure helium business and directed the Bureau of Land Management to pay off the debt related to helium purification and conservation, according to Burton. The debt balance is approximately $30 million, he said. However, that debt will be paid off in 2013 due to the fact that the government brings in approximately $200 million a year for selling crude helium.
“A new helium plant in Wyoming expected to come online has not,” Burton said of what’s contributing to the helium shortage.
Plants located in Qatar, Algeria, and Australia are producing at reduced volumes due to maintenance and operations issues but are expected to start normal operations within 10 months.
Roughly 42 percent of the nation’s helium and about a third of the world’s helium comes from The Cliffside Gas Field, which is 15 miles northwest of Amarillo.
“Six-point-one million cubic feet of helium is being withdrawn from the reserve dail,” Burton said. “That works out to 2.1 billion cubic feet a year.”
The government extracts the crude helium and sells it to private companies, which refine it and sell it.
Federal market needs are taken care of before private companies can purchase supplies, according to Burton. However, he said, “about a tenth of what we sell goes to government use and about 90 percent is for private use.”
Private companies are selling helium to hospitals, airplane manufacturers and those in the research industry. Helium is critical because it is used for things such as fiber optics, lasers, weapon systems, rockets and missiles. It can be used to detect dirty bombs.
"If it's high tech, there is helium in there somewhere," Burton said, adding that the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, NASA and Boeing all rely on helium for their operations.
About the Author