Imagine if they had 4.7% pure helium and 2.2% pure hydrogen19 Feb 2024 14:35
There has been a new discovery in Zimbabwe. A discovery that could become of great economic significance to the country if all goes well. Invictus Energy, an A-listed company from Australia has recently confirmed the presence of light oil, gas condensate, and helium at its Cabora Bassa project in Zimbabwe. The company has provided assurances that helium gas is present in commercially viable concentrations, comparable to helium-producing fields around the world.
Helium is an odourless, tasteless, colourless, inert, non-toxic monatomic gas that uses the lowest boiling and melting points. It is used in the manufacturing of semiconductors, liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and fibre optic wire used to design long-distance, high-performance data networking, and telecommunications.
More so, the global helium market consists of the sales of liquid helium and gaseous helium used for medicine, scientific research, refrigeration, gas for aircraft, and coolant for nuclear reactors. Thus, demand for helium gas is expected to be driven by multiple sectors such as the global healthcare, technology and telecommunications industries. The new discovery is also expected to be a big win for the impoverished Southern African country given the current global helium shortage and increasing demand.
Since the year 2000, the international market has experienced a series of shortages in helium gas production. The first major shortage called the Helium Shortage 1.0 spanned between 2006 and 2007, as new plants came online much slower and at lower capacity than anticipated. The second global helium shortage, Helium Shortage 2.0, occurred between 2011 and 2013. The third happened in 2019, however, the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted demand for helium gas until July 2021 when the current Helium Shortage 4.0 began.
With the latest discovery, Zimbabwe could become a significant supplier of helium gas on the international market. In its announcement, Invictus Energy noted that mud gas tests showed helium commercial concentrations of about 0.1 per cent. Meanwhile, commercial production typically requires helium concentrations between 0.04-0.35%.