全球氦气短缺迫在眉睫

据油价网4月6日消息，氦气、氩气、氖气、氙气和氪气等所谓的“稀有气体”或“惰性气体”，往往局限于利基市场。但是，尽管它们的稳定结构使它们在许多化学反应中几乎不发生反应，但在我们的经济体系中，稀有气体绝不是惰性的。也即是说，氦是宇宙中仅次于氢的第二丰富元素，是一种重要的资源，在微芯片制造、混合动力飞行器、充氦的硬盘驱动器以及太空探索等现代领域都有应用。

氦传统上被用于比空气轻的气球，因为氦气比空气轻7倍，而且比宇宙中最轻的元素氢的活性小得多。

在我们的星球上，氦的供应要少得多，在大气中仅有5.2 ppm的体积，使其成为大气中第二稀有的自由存在气体。

由于美国几个天然气产区的氦气浓度高于平均水平，所以氦气主要从天然气中产生。

地球上大部分的氦是重放射性元素自然放射性衰变的结果。然而，一家名为沙漠山能源 (Desert Mountain Energy)的加拿大公司计划在亚利桑那州中东部靠近霍尔布鲁克的地方勘探氦气，霍尔布鲁克被称为“氦气的沙特阿拉伯”，是世界上氦气储量最丰富的地区之一。

然而，随着需求的增加，各大公司一直在积极加大美国氦气勘探力度，包括亚利桑那州北部。

目前全球仅有14家提炼氦的工厂。

氦气供应减少

氦的独特性能使其成为低温、屏蔽、泄漏检测、传热、分析和提升应用的重要组成部分。氦的熔点为-261.1°C(-429°F)，是所有元素中熔点最低的，这意味着在需要超低温的情况下，没有任何气体可以替代它。这使得氦在超冷条件的研究中不可或缺。氦气也是MRI和半导体芯片等制造的过程中的重要组成部分。

半导体和医疗保健行业，以及空间和量子计算行业的爆炸式增长，增加了全球对氦的需求。

在美国，氦是从得克萨斯州、堪萨斯州和俄克拉荷马州的油井中提取的。德州是联邦氦储备的所在地。美国是全球最大的氦生产国，约占全球供应量的40%。

不幸的是，位于得克萨斯州阿马里洛市的美国国家氦储备(National Helium Reserve)——过去70年里世界上最大的氦气来源——几乎耗尽，而且看不到替代品。

需求增长

与其他大宗商品一样，多年来，氦气一直在经历盛衰交替的周期。

然而，长期前景大多看涨，全球氦气市场预计将从2019年的106亿美元增长到2023年的157.3亿美元，复合年增长率为11%。

目前主要关注的是非烃氦气的生产以及氦气含量低于0.6%的气田的生产。目前，英国和加拿大共有5个气田可以从非烃源中生产提升级、气态5.0级氦气或液氦。

全球市场上主要的氦气生产商有：

Airgas

液化空气公司

林德集团

梅塞尔集团

空气化工产品公司

俄罗斯天然气工业股份公司

Gulf Cryo

马西森

埃克森美孚

普莱克斯

裘寅 编译自 油价网

原文如下：

A Global Helium Shortage Is Now Looming

The so-called ‘noble’ or ‘inert’ gases such as helium, argon, neon, xenon, and krypton frequently tend to be confined to niche markets. But whereas their stable structure renders them mostly unreactive in many chemical reactions, rare gases are anything but inert in our economies. To wit, helium, the second most abundant element in the universe behind only hydrogen, is a vital resource with several modern-day applications in microchip manufacture, hybrid air vehicles, helium-filled hard drives, and space exploration among others.

Helium has traditionally been used in lighter-than-air balloons thanks to the gas being 7x lighter than air and far less reactive than hydrogen, the lightest element in the universe.

Here on our planet, helium is in a much shorter supply, at only 5.2 ppm by volume in the atmosphere making it the second most rare freely-occurring gas in our atmosphere.

Helium is mostly produced from natural gas thanks to higher-than-average concentrations in several natural gas locations in the United States.

Most terrestrial helium on our planet is the result of natural radioactive decay of heavy radioactive elements. However, a Canadian company by the name of Desert Mountain Energy Corp. (TSX-V:DME,OTCQX:DMEHF,Forum) plans to explore for helium in east-central Arizona near Holbrook, the so-called “the Saudi Arabia of helium’’ one of the world’s richest fields.

However, as demand has increased, companies have been aggressively ramping up helium exploration in the U.S--including northern Arizona.

There are now only 14 plants in the world that refine helium.

Dwindling helium supply

Helium’s unique properties make it an essential component in cryogenics, shielding, leak detection, heat transfer, and analytical and lifting applications. At a melting point of -261.1°C (-429°F), helium has the lowest melting point of any element, meaning there’s no substitute for the gas where ultra-low temperatures are required. This makes helium indispensable in the study of super-cold conditions. Helium is also a critical component in the manufacturing process, such as MRIs and semiconductor chip manufacturing.

Explosive growth in the semiconductor and healthcare industries, as well as space and quantum computing, has been increasing global demand in helium.

In the United States, helium is extracted from wells in Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Texas is home to the Federal Helium Reserve. The US is the world’s largest helium producer, accounting for roughly 40% of the global supply.

Unfortunately, the US National Helium Reserve in Amarillo, Texas-- the world’s single largest source of helium over the past 70 years--is nearly exhausted with no replacements in sight.

Demand growth

As is the case with other commodities, over the years, helium has been experiencing alternating boom and bust cycles.

However, the long-term outlook is mostly bullish, with the global helium market expected to grow from $10.6 billion in 2019 to $15.73 billion by 2023, good for 11% CAGR.

The main focus right now is the production of non-hydrocarbon helium gas as well as from gas fields with helium contents lower than 0.6%. A total of five fields now produce lift-grade, gaseous Grade 5.0, or liquid helium from non-hydrocarbon sources in the UK and Canada.

Major helium players in the global market are:

Airgas

Air Liquid

Linde

Messer Group

Air Products

Gazprom

Gulf Cryo

Matheson Tri-Gas

Exxon

Praxair.