University of Alberta research equipment at risk of damage due to a global helium shortage has been saved — at least in the short-term.

Helium is the second most-abundant element in the known universe, but to the semiconductor fabricators and doctors who rely on it for their businesses, it is better known as the latest raw material to grow scarce -- and the war in Ukraine could make the shortage worse.

A vital helium reserve in the US that supplies the global market will stop selling to the public in September 2022, threatening a supply crunch.

The US government has owned up to 1bn cubic meters of helium gas in a Federal Helium Reserve (FHR) – managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) – since 1925. It is now disposing of its remaining helium and assets by transfer to other federal bodies and public sales.

When helium markets tightened up during the second half of 2021 due primarily to a four month maintenance outage of the US Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) crude helium enrichment unit, the industry consensus was that Gazprom’s Amur project would begin pumping large quantities of helium into the market by the fourth quarter (Q4) of 202, averting another extended period of short supply.