An increase in the helium supply is helping to relieve recent shortages of the essential gas and is fueling growth in the global market. Helium is used to cool MRI scanners, among other applications.
New research from IHS Markit indicates that the worldwide helium market is expanding by 2% per year. While the advance may seem a meager gain, the market has gone from "intensely undersupplied to oversupplied" in three years, according to the firm.
North America produced 53% or 78 million m3 of helium and consumed more than 42% of the global supply (more than 71 million m3) last year. Europe is the second-largest consumer, with 19% of helium supply consumption.
At more than 27% of world supply, the Middle East is second to North America in helium production, followed by Africa, which accounts for approximately 11% of the world's production.
