Minister of Energy and Resources Bronwyn Eyre. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
REGINA – On Nov. 15, Saskatchewan Minister of Energy and Resources Bronwyn Eyre announced a Helium Action Plan, meant to foster further development of the industry. The announcement took place in the Legislature, and had invited representatives from the helium industry, including Patty Thomas, vice president of geosciences for North American Helium, and Andrew Davidson, president and CEO of Royal Helium.
Global production
In announcing the Helium Action Plan, Eyre said Saskatchewan, which currently puts out one per cent of global helium production, is aiming to grow that to 10 per cent.
Thomas explained that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) used to control the helium industry in North America, but got out of the business in the late 1990s. Old helium pools were producing helium as a secondary product of the hydrocarbon industry, but that has been diminishing.
Davidson said the U.S. has been the largest supplier of helium, followed by Qatar and Russia. But over the last ten years, there has been a shift away from American production. American production is principally from conventional vertical natural gas wells, and a lot of those wells are no longer economic and have timed out.
“In Russia and Qatar, they are very, very firmly natural gas projects, the concentration of helium is exceptionally low, but the volume of gas it’s processing is exceptionally high. That’s what makes them tick. Saskatchewan is the only jurisdiction that we can see, anywhere in the world, which has a really large producer, without any significant hydrocarbon production.”
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Thomas made similar comments, noting, “We actually have green helium, it’s a nitrogen gas 99 per cent nitrogen, 1 per cent helium. That’s what we’re producing. It’s green. So the market is there, we see that we will be able to do that internationally as well. Liquefaction, we’d all love to see that. It’ll be there in the future.”
North American’s wells are between 2,500 and 3,000 metres deep, producing from the Deadwood formation, sitting on top of the PreCambrian. The depth means there’s a lot of distortion of data, making if more difficult.
One of the challenges, Thomas noted, is surface land access issues. “I think that’s truly a growing problem,” she said, noting the Frenchman River traps access.
Expanding exploration
Up until now, helium development has been almost exclusively in the extreme southwest corner of Saskatchewan, with the exception of Weil’s efforts at Mankota. But this fall, Royal drilled its first well near Ogema, and is working on its second.
Royal Helium president and CEO Andrew Davidson. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Davidson said, “I guess you’d call wildcat drilling, in that no one is drilled for helium in this part of the province. In fact, nobody’s explored for it, ever. We’re the first. Very, very interesting. The wells are a bit deeper. We targeted our depth of 2,800 metres there. And we’re actually drilling below that now, because the formations are still coming back with helium charge. So, very big development for the southeast, if we can expand the oil and gas industry, and the helium, on that side of the province, there is just a wealth of talent over there to help us develop.
Minimizing environmental impact
Davidson said Royal has about a million acres of helium rights, but it has chosen to develop in areas close to existing infrastructure, on purpose.
“Helium wellsites, themselves, are not large sites. When you get into building facilities, certainly the site gets larger. But the footprint remains small for the project as gas, it’s moved into that refining state. Don’t expect to see something the size of the Co-op Refinery that’s exponentially larger than anything we would ever need in the province. And, in terms of environmental impact, the fact that we’re producing without natural gas, without any significant emissions, is a clear win for the resource industry in Saskatchewan.”
North American Helium has a property in Utah that is tied up with environmental regulations. All of their wells and production are in southwest Saskatchewan.
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- 0066 WBPC Promo video 30 seconds0066 WBPC Promo video 30 seconds
- 0065 Anova Resources field operator Oxbow0065 Anova Resources field operator Oxbow
- 0064 Estevan OTS0064 Estevan OTS
- 0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
- 0062 TED_EPAC_Technology_300062 TED_EPAC_Technology_30
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- 0059 Southeast College Heavy Equipment Operator0059 Southeast College Heavy Equipment Operator
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- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig large text0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig large text
- 0052 Predator Inspections0052 Predator Inspections
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
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- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
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This is Part 3 in a series regarding helium development in Saskatchewan.