Future of Helium price?

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Question for those who have been diving on Helium since the early days of Trimix. Where do you see the price of Helium now from when it was initially introduced and any guesstimates on where Helium price will be in another ten years? More and more people seem to be going the CCR route whether that change is motivated by Helium prices or not. How do you foresee the CCR revolution affecting the price of Helium? Thanks in advance for your insights.

 

[JohnnyC]

It’s only going to go up, no pun intended.

 

[Wookie]

Question for those who have been diving on Helium since the early days of Trimix. Where do you see the price of Helium now from when it was initially introduced and any guesstimates on where Helium price will be in another ten years? More and more people seem to be going the CCR route whether that change is motivated by Helium prices or not. How do you foresee the CCR revolution affecting the price of Helium? Thanks in advance for your insights.

When I started mixing Trimix to provide to divers on the Spree, (2007) I paid $95 a T for UHP helium. That was at Airgas in Freeport Texas. At Airgas in Stock Island I paid $300 a T, (2009) so I bought 12 of my own T cylinders. I gave away the last of them full last week.

 

[tomfcrist]

Helium prices are going to double in the next 10 years...that’s my guess. Honestly, with a rebreather....that’s still cheaper than OC diving when helium was cheap.

 

[Billy Northrup]

I don't think divers consume a small fraction of helium production, so I don't think CCR's will change market prices. FWIW I just went JJ because my helium bill was crazy high. At some point the price will get high enough it will become feasible to extract it from natural gas.

 

[rjack321]

MRIs and databank cooling systems are a huge use of helium. Commercial divers are already recycling their helium. OC tech divers dont even register as a user in the global marketplace. With the drawdown of the US strategic reserve, and continually increasing demands in high end cooling systems, the price is only going to go up. It has roughly doubled in the last ten years but use is accelerating and new sources are not really being processed. So in 10 yrs double or triple where we are today is in the ballpark. US helium prices will likely mirror the rest of the world, $2.50-$4.00 per cf is as reasonable a "10 years from now" guess as any.

 

[Carsten Wolff]

Helium is of course a non-renewable resource.... Eventually, we'll run out of the stuff; another 50 years or so...

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

MRIs and databank cooling systems are a huge use of helium. Commercial divers are already recycling their helium. OC tech divers dont even register as a user in the global marketplace. With the drawdown of the US strategic reserve, and continually increasing demands in high end cooling systems, the price is only going to go up. It has roughly doubled in the last ten years but use is accelerating and new sources are not really being processed. So in 10 yrs double or triple where we are today is in the ballpark. US helium prices will likely mirror the rest of the world, $2.50-$4.00 per cf is as reasonable a "10 years from now" guess as any.

Makes sense. Given your GUE/UTD background, what do you see to be the future of standard gases? These agencies push Helium right after 100 ft mark, where a lot of people (including myself to some extent) do not find it necessary. The Tech-1 diver often ends up diving the same wrecks at 120 ft depth while paying three times more in standard gases. Would these agencies open themselves up to deep air? Or would they start pushing CCR training right after 100? Tech-1 on open circuit seems to lose its market appeal as economics of the dive turn against it.

 

[rjack321]

Shrugs, they just wont do those dives below 100ft on OC very much.

Deep air, no never. Much more likely to transition to CCR sooner, which GUE already did by relaxing the Tech2 prerequisite. (Now you only have to be T1 to take GUE-CCR).

Nobody is requiring you to use helium below 100ft but when you have a stupid bad day at 125ft on air in cold and dark water you'll feel pretty foolish afterwards.

 

[scubafanatic]

I don't think divers consume a small fraction of helium production, so I don't think CCR's will change market prices. FWIW I just went JJ because my helium bill was crazy high. At some point the price will get high enough it will become feasible to extract it from natural gas.

I thought helium was/is already extracted from natural gas ? There aren't giant helium pockets being mined, helium is a trace 'contaminant' trapped within natural gas reserves and separated out from the natural gas if/where the helium concentrations make economic sense. Nobody drills a helium well, they drill for natural gas and separate off the trace helium as a byproduct.