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11 min ago 2 min read
Primary exploration firm Rift Helium has reported a £1.33m ($1.78m) loss in the first half of 2026, ending the period with £6.77m ($9.07m).
Through admission to the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market , the company secured around £8.1m ($10.85m) in funding to advance its 238 sq km Upepo project in southwest Tanzania.
The project has now received environmental impact assessment approval for the planned 3D seismic programme and drilling of up to three exploration wells in the Rukwa Basin.
It is believed to have unrisked prospective helium resources of around 19 billion cubic feet (Bcf) with a 50% probability.
The company has now mobilised its 3D seismic programme, and drilling preparations are in progress, with well targeting and drilling planned for H1 2027.
Patrick Muwowo, Non-Executive Chairman of Rift Helium, said, “Global supply remains concentrated and vulnerable to disruption. Against this backdrop, the need for new, reliable sources of primary helium is increasingly clear.”
Disruption to Qatar’s natural gas supply highlights how concentrated and vulnerable the global helium supply can be and reinforces the need for new primary helium sources.
However, the company’s 16.42% loss in H1 2026, ahead of the commencement of its drilling programme, illustrates the challenges for helium startups in the current global market.
Speaking on a gasworld webinar, Phil Kornbluth, of Kornbluth Helium Consulting, said, “I don’t see primary helium accounting for more than 10% of the global supply. The projects are very small. The new capacity is overwhelmingly going to be from large natural gas and liquefied natural gas byproduct sources.”
Qatar’s plans to launch Helium-4, originally , are now likely to be delayed, but when it launches, it will add another 1.3 Bcf to the global market.
Kornbluth told gasworld, “By then we could have a bunch of new supply, without Tanzania and South Africa and some of these other projects. I think that many of the…projects are going to have a difficult time securing funding.”
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