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> Demand exceeding supply changes the feasibility bar, but there's still a limit to fresh field sizes and extraction rates. Not really. If at 100x the natural
by credit_guy 3y ago
> Demand exceeding supply changes the feasibility bar, but there's still a limit to fresh field sizes and extraction rates.
Not really. If at 100x the natural gas price, helium is profitable in concentrations above 1%, then at 1000x it is profitable in concentrations above 0.1%. We produce every year several billion tons of natural gas. The helium that we don't bother to separate from the natural gas we produce exceeds the world needs by a factor of 100 easily. But if the price goes up by a factor of 10, we'd instantly find out we have all the helium we need.