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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Eric who wrote (78164)

7/10/2017 11:34:57 AM

From: Brumar89

Respond to of 86356

Helium has two special abilities. It is extremely light, and it can get extremely cold without freezing.

Largely for these reasons, the element is needed to use or make all sorts of things: semiconductors, rocket fuel, computer hard drives, the Large Hadron Collider, magnets in MRI machines, airships, scuba tanks, arc welding, anything that needs to be super cold, and of course, balloons.

.........

theatlantic.com

So where do we get helium so useful in high tech applications? Hint: Qatar and Texas are big suppliers.

......Very little helium is present in Earth's atmosphere. It is such a light element that Earth's gravity cannot hold it. When present at Earth's surface, unconfined helium immediately begins rising until it escapes the planet. That's why party balloons rise!

The helium that is produced commercially is obtained from the ground. Some natural gas fields have enough helium mingled with the gas that it can be extracted at an economical cost. A few fields in the United States contain over 7% helium by volume. Companies that drill for natural gas in these areas produce the natural gas, process it and remove the helium as a byproduct.

..........

Most unprocessed natural gas contains at least trace amounts of helium. Very few natural gas fields contain enough to justify a helium recovery process. A natural gas source must contain at least 0.3% helium to be considered as a potential helium source.

World Helium Resources

Country

Billion Cubic Meters

United States

20.6

Qatar

10.1

Algeria

8.2

Russia

6.8

Canada

2.0

China

1.1

The values above are estimated helium resources from USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries. [3]

In 2010, all of the natural gas processed for helium in the United States came from fields in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming as shown on the accompanying map. The Hugoton Field in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas; the Panoma Field in Kansas; the Keyes Field in Oklahoma; the Panhandle West and Cliffside Fields in Texas, and the Riley Ridge Field in Wyoming account for most of the helium production in the United States

http://geology.com/articles/helium/

Yes, helium is a byproduct of natural gas extraction. When you drill for natural gas, a tiny percent of your gas is helium.

While helium isn't a fossil fuel, helium on earth is trapped underground with fossil fuel. No natural gas, no helium.