Gases

Support from Esprit in Selecting and Getting the Best from Your Helium Supplier

December 2011

Industrial users of hydrogen have two basic choices, they can either produce the hydrogen themselves, the “make” option, or buy it from a third party supplier, the “buy” option

From its beginnings in the 1920s right through the remainder of the 20th Century, the helium industry was a very stable business. Despite sustained growth in demand that at times exceeded 10 percent per year, new production plants could be added as required based on plentiful natural reserves of helium found in the heartlands of the United States. In the early 2000s, however, prices began to rise sharply, increasing by around 50% between 2000 and 2005. Then, in 2006 and through most of 2007, the industry experienced a serious shortage of supply causing enforced rationing of many end users, and triggering further price rises. By 2008, market prices in the U.S. were almost three times what they were just eight years previously.