The 2024 U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries for helium has recently been published, which is one of the only official datasets published on the global helium industry. US helium production decreased by 8% in 2023 y/y to 2,160mmcf due to planned maintenance at La Barge, however 2022 production was revised up by 180mmcf to 2,340mmcf. There were significant revisions to the data once again that we have cited in the past.
Three new facility began producing helium in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
2022 US helium consumption was revised up by a massive 26% as the USGS continues to correct previous data quality issues that AKAP Energy has been flagging to the agency. 2023 consumption was estimated at 2,120mmcf, which is up 9% y/y. Therefore in 2023 the US was barely able to meet domestic demand from production (excluding Cliffside).
Helium imports grew by 33% y/y to 430mmcf, whilst helium exports remained flat at 1,150mmcf. There were some massive revisions to the helium export data: 2020 was revised down by 33%, 2021 by 30% and 2022 by 20%.
The report continues to have a disclaimer: Consumption was estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey for 2019 because the data reported by the U.S. Census Bureau were unusually high
and may have contained misclassified items
The USGS estimated Grade-A helium pricing at an average of US$390/mcf (+26% y/y) with the acknowledgement that some producers were charging a premium to this.
The USGS once again started providing a split of demand by usage type: it was used for, analytical, engineering, lab, science, and specialty gases (21%); controlled atmospheres, fiber optics, and semiconductors (17%); magnetic resonance imaging (17%); lifting gas (16%); aerospace, pressuring, and purging (9%); welding (8%); leak detection (5%); diving (4%); and various other minor applications (3%).
In terms of storage at Cliffside, 891mmcf was produced during the 2023 fiscal year and 206mmcf was re-injected back into storage. This left 1.9bcf of Government helium and 1.5bcf of privately owned helium as at 1st October 2023 in Cliffside.
2023 global production was estimated at 6.1bcf up from 5.7bcf in 2022. Qatar was estimated to have produced 2.4bcf (+12% y/y), Algeria 360mmcf (+25% y/y) and Russia 290mmcf (+60% y/y).
US helium market dynamics:
"Old" refers to the previously stated helium quantity estimates in the 2023 Mineral Commodity Summaries and "New" are the revised quantities for the same periods stated in the 2024 Mineral Commodity Summaries
USGS estimates for 2022 global helium production (mmcf):
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