All About Helium -Lecture

Join us at the Museum at 1pm on Saturday, June 20, for a fascinating lecture on Helium by Dr. Steve Tedesco, Idaho Museum of Mining and Geology, 2455 Old Penitentiary Road, Boise.

The helium industry in the past few years has become a focus for the oil and gas industry as prices for the element have increased at times to over $600 a thousand cubic feet. The present Ukrainian and Iranian wars have caused disruption in helium supply and prices for the element have headed back up over $400 an MCF. Helium is a minor component in certain natural gas accumulations in specific areas of North America and certain supergiant gas fields in the Middle East and Russia. Helium is a critical strategic element for today’s society that is necessary for high tech, healthcare, welding, aeronautical, space and military industries. Five areas in the world, two in the US (Big Piney-La Barge and Texas Panhandle-Hugoton fields), one area in central Russia (the Amur Facility), one in Algeria (Hassi R’ Mel) and the other in Qatar (South Pars Field) presently provide 80% to 90% of the world’s helium. The remaining 10% to 20% is produced from a small number of fields in the US and Canada with additional production from China, South Africa, Australia and Poland.

Future projections of helium supply and demand are anyone’s guess as the industry is very opaque in terms of production and consumption data. Few countries, states or provinces report helium production nor do many tax the element. The USGS, historically, provides the most reliable data summaries. Some predictions, prior to the Iranian War, had helium supplies becoming more stable for the next two years. Others predict shortages. The Russia-Ukrainian War caused helium to be sold through China to circumvent sanctions on Russian production. Also continued maintenance problems at the BLM Helium Facility in Amarillo, TX seems to be an ongoing issue. The recent loss of a facility due to a fire in Kansas, etc. all demonstrate the delicate nature of supply of the element.

The source of helium is not the same source for CO2 and CH4. Helium comes the lower crust and upper mantle. It is sourced from uranium, lithium and thorium minerals decay and a unknown percentage of helium that was trapped during the formation of the earth.

Nonmembers of the Idaho Museum of Mining and Geology $5, Members FREE. Pre-registration is required.

About the Lecturer:

Dr. Steven Tedesco has over 40 years of experience in the energy industry including coal, helium, nuclear, oil, gas, hydrogen, wind and solar. Dr. Tedesco is a managing member of EIR Well Services, Elizabethtown, Kentucky and owner of Running Foxes Energy Inc., Centennial Colorado. Dt. Tedesco focuses on waterflooding of shallow oil reservoirs, helium, coal bed methane and conventional oil and gas production in the Uncompahgre Uplift, Powder River, Cincinnati Arch, Illinois, Rome Trough, Williston, Denver, Forest City and Cherokee basins, USA. Dr. Tedesco is the US representative for MRE Wind and Solar based out of Centennial, Colorado that is in the process of building wind, solar and battery facilities in Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado and Utah. Dr. Tedesco has a BS in Geology from Northeastern University in Boston, a MS in Geology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, IL, and a PhD in Geology with a minor in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines., He has published numerous articles and presented several talks at international industry meetings on coal bed methane, surface geochemistry, helium, hydrogen, structural geology, petroleum engineering, and stratigraphy. Dr. Tedesco has been CEO and President of a Canadian Junior Public Company, Admiral Bay Resources that is now known as PredictMedix. He was involved in taking two other companies public on the OTC, General Cannabis and Epsilon Energy. Dr. Tedesco has published the only textbook specifically focused on the use of surface geochemistry in petroleum exploration that was published in 1994. Dr. Tedesco recently published the only book on helium, geology and associated gases by Elsevier Publishing that was released in April 2022 and its second edition is to be published in June 2026.

Please contact [email protected] if you have questions.

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