By
33 min ago 2 min read
Oil and gas exploration firm Panoro Energy has confirmed the presence of helium at a natural gas prospect in South Africa, which it believes could be commercialised.
The company completed a prospect resource assessment at its Exploration Right 376 (ER 376) onshore in South Africa, which it said revealed helium volumes that could be sold as a byproduct of natural gas production.
Energy consulting firm Sproule ERCE evaluated a total of three independent plays for prospective resources at ER376. The results show an estimated gross recoverable unrisked mean of 85 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of helium and over 4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of methane.
The best-estimate (2U) unrisked helium resource is 38.8 Bcf. The low-estimate (1U) volume of helium is recorded at 3.9 Bcf, moving up to a high-estimate (3U) volume of 193.5 Bcf.
The assessment showed a 2U volume of methane at 3,020.6 Bcf, a 1U volume of 926.5 Bcf, and a 3U volume of 8,443.6 Bcf.
Eric d’Argentre, Chief Operating Officer and President of Panoro Energy, said, “Helium is a future-facing commodity, with critical applications across advanced industries and a low-visibility but irreplaceable input to global supply chains.”
This comes after geopolitical instability in the Middle East has increased pressure on the development of new helium resources to secure global supply chains.
In March, CEO of ASP Isotopes Paul Mann said South Africa could emerge as a growing source of helium supply as .
In October, the company’s subsidiary, South African helium developer Renergen, Phase 1 of its 70,000 cubic feet per day (mcf/day) Virginia Gas Project in the Free State province, South Africa.
