Cover Story Breakbulk & Project Cargo
information,” he said.“ All of them are impacted by the loss of supply from Qatar, but at different levels. Not everyone has equal dependence on Qatar.”
Industrial gas supplier and shipper Air Liquide, which sources more than half of its helium supply from Qatar, declared force majeure in March, implementing a supply allocation and pricing surcharges, Kornbluth noted.
New opportunities
More than 90 % of the world’ s helium is a byproduct of natural gas processing, so output cannot be increased or reduced independently of hydrocarbon production. This is where Thomas Abraham-Jones, CEO and co-founder of Pulsar Helium, sees an opportunity for new exploration and production facilities.
Pulsar is pursuing standalone, or“ primary helium”
“ The supply chain for helium has always been fragile; that is now intensifying and there is no plan B.”
Thomas Abraham-Jones CEO, Pulsar Helium exploration, at its Topaz project in Minnesota, where flow testing continues and production potential is being assessed; and at the Tunu project in Greenland, where exploration is under way.
“ Production of primary helium will be a game changer,” Abraham-Jones said.“ The supply chain for helium has always been fragile; that is now intensifying and there is no plan B.” He said geological reserves with“ extremely high helium contents,” but without the typical natural gas flows, allow Pulsar to scale production with demand.
“ In conversations we have had with end-users, they are certainly very excited by the prospect of a supply that is independent of LNG production,” Abraham-Jones said.“ And if fossil fuel production is to be phased down because of climate change, then there would be less helium as a byproduct of natural gas production.”
More than 90 % of the world’ s helium is a byproduct of natural gas processing. Pulsar Helium
8 Journal of Commerce | June 2026 www. joc. com