HEW-TEX INDUSTRY NEWS ROOM

“Helium is the workhorse of chemistry. Because of a helium shortage, some important experiments are being forced to shut down,” one physicist said.

NBCNEWS.COM – May 18, 2019, 2:31 AM MDT  – By Mary Pflum

This month’s announcement from Party City that it’s closing more than 40 stores as it grapples with new challenges, including diminishing helium supplies, likely came as unwelcome news to customers who count on the store for their balloon and event planning needs.

But for scientists like Mark Elsesser, the announcement was something of a relief, inflating hopes that the public, and the government, might start paying closer attention.

“When it comes to helium, we’re at a tipping point,” said Elsesser, who is the associate director of government affairs at the American Physical Society, a nonprofit association of physicists. “Party City has made our job a little bit easier when it comes to getting helium on people’s radar. Helium is something we need to address.”

Elsesser said news coverage related to Party City’s difficulties in sourcing helium cast a long-overdue spotlight on an element that’s often overlooked and underestimated. Read more…

MNN.com – KATY RANK LEV – June 3, 2019, 1:32 p.m.

Birthday parties and grand opening celebrations are often celebrated with helium-filled balloons bobbing in the breeze, but scientists say it’s time we abandoned this wasteful practice. We are currently experiencing the third shortage in 14 years, and much more critical uses of this gas are at risk.

The colorless, odorless, tasteless, nontoxic gas is primarily used to cool things, with its biggest commercial use being MRI scanners. Other critical uses of the gas include cooling infrared detectors and nuclear reactors, machinery for wind tunnels, operation of satellite equipment, and to pressurize fuel tanks for space travel.

But the supply of helium is likely to get even more unpredictable soon because there are too few sources of the gas here on Earth, according to Smithsonian magazine. Ironically, helium is the second most abundant element in the universe, the majority of it created during the Big Bang. But here on Earth, it’s rare, with much of it transformed at refineries in the United States and Qatar. Read more…

NEWSWEEK: BY DAN CANCIAN ON 5/10/19 AT 11:00 AM EDT

major shortage of helium has begun to make its impact felt across a number of industries, as a combination of dwindling resources and increasing prices take their toll.

The gas, one of the lightest substances in the world, can be harvested from natural underground deposits and from the production of natural gas, in which helium is a by-product. But there are currently no cost-effective ways of artificially producing the gas, which has left a host of sectors scrambling.

While helium usage is widespread, its sources are relatively limited, and the U.S. has provided the lion’s share of the world’s supply for decades. According to Gasworld, more than three-quarters of the globe’s helium is produced across three different locations—Texas, Wyoming and Qatar.

The U.S. will exit the helium business by the end of September 2021, as established by the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013. Also, resources in Texas have dwindled because of a combination of different factors.

Helium production in the U.S. has significantly slowed down and the Bureau of Land Management has been forced to ration its supply, due to political upheaval in the Gulf States.

In February last year, Saudi Arabia imposed an economic embargo on Qatar, which effectively took some 30 percent of the global supply off the market.

While helium might be best known as laughing gas and for its use in balloons, it plays a crucial role in a number of different industries, from the aerospace to the medical sector. Read more…

PALM BEACH, Florida, May 30, 2018 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — PALM BEACH, Florida, May 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ —

Marketnewsupdates.com News Commentary 

The world’s helium supply shortage has the medical industry worried. Why do they care? The fact is, nearly a quarter of the world’s helium is used for cryogenics in MRI machines. The situation has gotten so bad that doctors have actually called for a ban on party balloons to save helium for life-saving purposes. This critical shortage has caused a helium price surge to all-time highs and has drawn investor attention to gas producers like American Helium Inc.(AHE) AHELF, -13.59% , Praxair Inc. PX, -3.45% Air Products & Chemicals Inc. APD, +0.98% , Gazprom PAO OGZPY, +0.17% and United State Natural Gas Fund LP (nsye:UNG).

Shortage Driving Up The Price Of Helium 

Global demand for helium has risen by 10% per year over the past decade to an estimated 8 billion cubic feet. This far exceeds current supply which sits at only 5.4 billion cubic feet. This shortfall has placed an enormous strain on the price of helium, driving it up to an all-time high this year to $119 per thousand cubic feet. This represents an 11% increase over 2017. This trend is likely to continue into 2020, where the value of the helium market could exceed $1.5 billion. Read more…

Photo: Chevron CEO Mike Wirth.

Worldoil.com – By Joe Carroll and David Wethe on 5/9/2019

HOUSTON (Bloomberg) — Chevron is abandoning its $33 billion offer for Anadarko Petroleum, the culmination of a month-long bidding war in which Occidental Petroleum Corp. prevailed over a rival five times its size.

The most ambitious foray of Chevron CEO Mike Wirth’s tenure ended Thursday after the world’s third-largest oil explorer by market value elected not to sweeten an offer that fell out of favor with Anadarko directors. Chevron said it will collect a $1 billion termination fee and plans to increase its share buybacks by 25%.

Anadarko’s board embraced the Occidental proposal as superior on May 6, giving Chevron up to four days to come back with a revised offer. Anadarko was looking for Chevron to match or exceed Occidental’s proposal, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. However, Chevron indicated that topping its rival’s offer was too risky. Read more…

By Kiel Porter and Rachel Adams-Heard on 5/2/2019

CHICAGO and HOUSTON (Bloomberg) — Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s bombshell investment from Warren Buffett is the culmination of almost two years of on-and-off-again wrangling with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. — a saga that’s, so far, seen the company slip through its fingers several times.

With Buffett in its corner and a higher bid on the table, Occidental finally seems to have the upper hand over Chevron Corp.’s lower, but already agreed on, offer. Anadarko’s board has decided to start talking to Occidental again, and said that its bid could result in a superior proposal.

Occidental’s engagement with Anadarko officially brings the two Texas-based explorers back to the negotiating table again after at least four separate rounds of communication since late 2017, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the details of the discussions aren’t public. As recently as December, an informal check-in by Occidental had met with a negative response from its potential target: We’re not ready.

Just two months later, Chevron entered the fray and started talking to Anadarko, the people said. It was enough to pique Occidental’s interest, and by March 23 the company had made a $76-per-share offer — including $19 in cash, the people said. Representatives from Anadarko, Chevron and Occidental declined to comment on the talks. Read more…