Most of the crude helium tapped from the natural gas reserves is about 50% pure, and the other gases are separated in a washing process. Since helium accumulates in natural gas, it makes little economic sense to extract it, and it is difficult to store it. Helium consists of radioactive decay, so it cannot spread in large quantities in the crust.
After helium gas is formed in the Earth, it tends to rise and accumulate in the same deposits as natural gas. Helium does not escape from the earth's crust and becomes part of natural gas fields. To extract helium, we have to go underground and extract it from the crust, just as we do with oil and natural gas.
This becomes a possibility in cases where the helium that does not escape through the earth's crust can be separated from the natural gas that we extract. This is an expensive and inefficient process but the number of natural gas fields with sufficient helium processing capacity to make it worthwhile is currently low.
Helium is produced on all planets by the deep, natural radioactive decay of elements such as uranium and thorium. It seeps into the earth's crust and gets trapped in natural gas pockets from which it can be extracted. When it reaches the surface, it escapes gravity.
Once helium is released into the atmosphere, it becomes uneconomical to capture it again, and atmospheric helium escapes back to Earth where it can be ignited. Helium is a thousand times more lucrative than gas, and removing inert helium causes gas to burn, so companies don't bother to extract it. Although the price has been higher than in recent years, natural gas companies are still being encouraged to sell self-produced helium.
Since not all natural gas deposits are made with helium and it makes no financial sense for companies to refine their by-products into helium, we end up with a tiny group of important suppliers. Some countries, such as Qatar, extract so much natural gas that they have so little helium that they can meet a decent percentage of global demand. But the most widely used products in many industries require helium, so there is no way to manufacture more.
There is not much helium on planet Earth, only a few parts per million. Helium occupies about 5.2 parts per million (ppm) in the Earth's atmosphere and earned the designation "rare gas" for one of its most valuable properties : being lighter than air. Helium is now sold as a byproduct of the natural gas industry, as rock formations trap hydrocarbons and stop the gas in its tracks.
The second most abundant element of the universe is ironic and crazy that Helium is one of the rarest on Earth after hydrogen. Helium is an inert gas so rare on Earth because it is 7x lighter than air, escapes in space and is torn apart by the solar wind, but not much is produced on Earth by natural processes. Most of the helium extracted as natural gas is assumed to be in the form of radioactive decay of uranium and thorium into the granite rocks of the earth's crust.
Helium is the second most abundant gas in the universe. It is only about a second faster than light, making it easy to slip into the atmosphere of the Earth. Helium has the smallest atomic radius of all elements, so it is easy to move and fit into the small pores in the granite rocks of the earth's crust. While space is overflowing with helium, its presence in the earth's crust complicates harvesting.
It is trapped in different minerals and is collected in large forms in gas reservoirs where it can be extracted, such as the National Helium Reserve in Texas. Helium can also be extracted from natural gas by drilling rigs that drill boreholes into the earth's crust. But there is no way to produce the gas, and the world's reserves come from the by-product of extracting natural gas from huge oil and gas fields in southern and western America that have historically high concentrations of helium.
Oil companies extract helium trapped underground in natural gas chambers. Radioactive decay by uranium in rock spreads helium in the chambers over millions of years. The majority of the helium gas reserves still have to be ventilated.
Add that with the fact that much of the world's helium is extracted from natural gas, and you have a perfect storm for a supply.
