The Iran war is choking crucial supply lines around the world as strikes continue across the Middle East, and experts are warning that the price of helium may be on the rise in the coming days.
Exports of helium, which is classified by Canada as a critical mineral, are under pressure as the Strait of Hormuz has remained impassable throughout the conflict.
Qatar, which accounts for one-third of the world’s supply of helium according to the Canada Energy Regulator, has seen its exports come under strain.
“Iranian drones attacked a number of energy-producing locations in Qatar, which resulted in Qatar energy declaring force majeure and halting the production of LNG. Helium is a byproduct of LNG,” said Behrouz Bakhtiari, a professor at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business.
“As you create LNG or extract LNG, helium is created as a byproduct. So, if you stop producing LNG, there is no helium produced.”
Additionally, the helium already in production cannot be shipped out of Qatar due to the Strait of Hormuz being threatened by Iran, he said.
Why is helium so ‘essential’?
It’s not just your party balloons that could get hit by a shortage of helium, said Muralee Murugesu, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Ottawa.
“Of course, party balloons are the most commonly known use of helium,” he said.
“Anything [that needs] cryogenic cooling is affected,” he added.
This includes anything from Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) magnets used in scientific research to the magnets used in MRI machines in hospitals.
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“Helium is essential to the operation of MRI scanners, as it permits the supercooling of the coils of wires that generate the magnetic field. Without helium, superconducting magnets cannot operate and would be unable to serve the needs of Canadian patients and healthcare providers,” says the Canadian Helium Users Group (CHUG), a network of 31 institutional members and 320 scientific platforms in Canada, on its website.
Heliox, a mix of helium and oxygen, is also used in intensive care units (ICUs), particularly for patients suffering from lung conditions, the group added.
Helium, with its very low boiling point, is a key coolant for the research work that the NMR Centre at the University of Guelph does, said Sameer Al-Abdul-Wahid who heads the facility.
“If we interrupt the supply of helium, if we lose that coldness for even an instant, the magnet is lost and can be damaged. This can result in losses of millions of dollars. We need to make sure there’s a very steady supply of helium to the magnet at all times,” he said, adding that MRI machines use a very similar technology.
“What it does mean (if helium supply is interrupted) is that you’re not going to be able to commission any new MRIs,” he said.
The supply of helium could also hit the tech sector, with South Korea’s chipmaking industry warning that semiconductor manufacturers would not have access to helium, which is used as a coolant.
Kim Young-bae, a lawmaker from South Korea’s ruling party, said the helium shortage could hit companies in his country.
“Officials raised a possibility that semiconductor production could be disrupted if some of these key materials cannot be sourced from the Middle East,” he said at a briefing with reporters last week.
This could also affect the burgeoning artificial intelligence and quantum computing sectors, which needs a steady supply of semiconductors, Murugesu said.
Aside from Qatar, most of the world’s supply comes from the U.S., Australia, Russia and Algeria, according to CER.
The only Canadian province that currently produces commercially-viable helium is Saskatchewan.
While Canada gets much of its supply from the U.S., one-third of the global supply being choked would raise prices globally, Bakhtiari said.
“Canada is ramping up in helium production and Saskatchewan mines are fantastic for that,” Murugesu said.
However, Canada lacks liquification facilities, Al-Abdul-Wahid said.
“Helium is great for party balloons in its gaseous state, but we need it as a liquid,” he said.
Not only is there less helium in the market, those who already have helium may be hoarding it, creating panic and scarcity in the market, Bakhtiari said.
However, he added that it is not possible to hoard helium for too long. Unlike oil, you cannot have strategic reserves for helium.
“Helium is a highly perishable item. You can only keep it for approximately 30 days. After that, is basically just vaporizing into the atmosphere,” he said.
–with files from Reuters
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