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57 min ago 2 min read
Helium exploration company Helium One Global has raised £3m ($3.9m) to support the drilling of six new wells between Q4 2026 and H1 2027 at the Galactica project in Las Animas County, Colorado.
The firm expects revenues from its existing production to fund the remaining wells planned for H2 2027.
In partnership with exploration firm Blue Star Helium, Helium One holds a 50% interest in the wider Galactica–Pegasus project and the associated Pinyon Canyon helium and carbon dioxide (CO2) processing plant.
The Pinyon Canyon plant early production commissioning and optimisation in July, when its first tube trailer of helium also left the facility.
Blue Star expects to begin generating revenue from CO2 sales in Q1 2027, subject to commissioning a liquefaction unit needed to prepare the gas for commercial distribution.
The next phase will focus on increasing helium output while bringing CO2 production to market.
Blue Star plans to drill three additional wells across Galactica in Q4 2026, subject to permitting, followed by a further six development wells in 2027 and the deepening of three existing wells. Helium One’s latest fundraising is intended to support the first six of these nine wells.
The additional development wells are expected to be tied into Pinyon Canyon ahead of further scale-up across the wider Pegasus area and additional plants.
The Pinyon Canyon processing plant has a nameplate capacity of around 2,200 thousand cubic feet (Mcf) of helium and 44,500 Mcf of CO2 per month, with the partners targeting full capacity by the end of 2027, supported by up to 15 wells.
In a recent presentation, Trent Spry, Managing Director and CEO, said, “We have six wells on production at the moment, and the first sales under offtake started in July – deliberately short-term, in this current helium market, and we will continue to balance pricing and longer-term contracts.
“There’s a lot of interest as you can imagine in CO2 offtake given what’s happening with the supply chain globally,” he added.
The joint venture partners see future expansion at the Galactica–Pegasus project to include additional wells and up to three additional processing plants.
In September, Blue Star a helium offtake agreement covering “any and all helium” produced at the Pinon Canyon plant through 31 March 2027.
It had previously described the offtaker as a publicly listed US industrial gas company.
