alt Hacker NewsMeanwhile we vent 95% of extracted helium into the atmosphere as an inconvenient waste gas.
If it is so important, why aren't all our gas wells extracting that helium? It is hard for me to see this as a ploy for anything other than raising helium prices for the few companies that do extract helium.
In anything that helium is critical for, the helium cost is inconsequential compared to both the cost of the other equipment that uses it, and the value gained from using that equipment.
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Most importantly, semiconductor fabs cannot operate without it. I was unaware, but I saw an interesting 60 minutes piece in it the other day.
I hear what you’re saying, but it’s the same reason a lot of natural gas is flared off or vented at oil wells. Helium is less than 1% of the total feed gas coming off a well and it requires specialized equipment to be able to recover it, on top of a way to distribute it. In most cases depending on the mix of gases coming out, it’s simply not economical for the operator.
Even with the supply being under pressure and prices going up from Qatar’s supply being cut off, that still might not be enough for companies to build the infrastructure. It would be a huge gamble. Once traffic in the straight of Hormuz goes back to normal that could be a losing proposition.
If helium prices are raised by this won't that lower the threshold where it is considered a waste gas?
Helium is really hard to store and transport
> If it is so important, why aren't all our gas wells extracting that helium?
Because the free market considers any supplier but the cheapest to be inefficient and drives them out of business. Robustness of the supply chain is always less profitable.
Whether helium or eggs or toilet paper, we keep getting shown the results of this lesson over and over. And people refuse to learn.
At some point we will be able to scrape the moon for helium or be able to manufacturer it with fusion reactors. None of that currently exists or has a path to exist. It would be a mistake for us to not force collection of that helium today. The oil and gas industry is swimming in cash because of iran. They can afford to collect it.
We should have mandatory recycling for all uses. Every use of helium should have to build recollection into their workflows.
Following the Helium Privatization Act of 1996 and the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) completed the final sale of the reserve and its pipeline infrastructure to the industrial gas company Messer for $460 million in December 2024
Decades of work to hand over a critical resource to private hands.
> If it is so important, why aren't all our gas wells extracting that helium?
Because until six months ago there was a cheap and convenient supply coming out of Persian Gulf states, and so its importance was not noticed (like so many other items that 'suddenly' became apparent when the supply was suddenly cut off).