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29 min ago 2 min read
South African helium producer Renergen, through its subsidiary Tetra4, has signed a five-year take-or-pay contract with an unnamed Asian industrial gases company for helium from its 70,000 cubic feet per day (mcf/day) Virginia Gas Project in the Free State province, South Africa.
The contract represents around 15% of the project’s expected Phase 1 nameplate capacity and will support the start of Phase 1 of commercial operations expected in Q3 2026.
Under the take-or-pay arrangement, the customer is committed to purchasing contracted volumes over the five-year term. The price is fixed at more than $600 per mcf.
Phase 2 is around 13 times the size of Phase 1 and is expected to produce around 900 mcf/day of helium.
Following completion of Phase 1, the company expects to begin construction of Phase 2 in the second half of 2026 with a projected development timeline of three to four years.
The company has secured $40m from the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and has received conditional approval for a further $500m from the US DFC and up to $250m from Standard Bank to support Phase 2 of development.
Paul Mann, Executive Chairman and CEO of ASP Isotopes, said the company is working towards Phase 1 construction completion to meet global helium demand at a time of geopolitical instability.
Roughly is still unavailable as a result of the Middle East crisis and recent dynamics involving China and Russia, according to Rich Brook, CEO of Garrison Ventures.
In , Renergen completed drilling for the first phase of its Virginia Gas Project four months ahead of schedule and achieved its required cumulative nameplate flow rate, marking a key milestone in efforts to ramp up production.
The company said recent drilling had demonstrated gas flow rates up to 16 times higher than those achieved in earlier operations.
Over the next few months, Renergen will tie in new wells with the processing plant to reach or exceed Phase 1’s nameplate capacity.
ASP Isotopes Renergen in January 2026, completing its purchase of the helium and LNG producer.
