HELIUM MARKET AND PROBLEMS OF EASTERN SIBERIA

Abstract

Helium is a non-renewable natural resource that can act as an indicator of the development of innovation and economy in the countries of the world. In recent years, there have been significant changes in the global helium market: the 10 largest operators occupy up to 87.85 % of the global market. At the same time, their interests are primarily aimed at building new distribution centers and partnerships with owners of helium reserves.In Eastern Siberia, two large helium plants have been built at the Amur Gas Processing Plant and at the gas chemical project of Irkutsk Oil Company LLC, which is an example of a model for combining helium production and gas processing plants. At the same time, the strategic storage of helium is an important infrastructural nature and allows accumulating surpluses or, conversely, if necessary, covering peaks in demand or creating an excess of supply in the struggle for new sales markets.However, due to a complex of problems, these plants have not yet reached the industrial level. First of all, this is due to the refusal of foreign technology suppliers to cooperate in the conditions of sanctions. Only reliance on domestic technologies and equipment for the extraction, purification and liquefaction of helium can change the situation. At the same time, the level of manufacturers technological readiness of equipment manufactured in Russia, in general, allows to provide projects with critical and key equipment.A helium extraction facility is also being built in Yakutia by the Helium 24 Group of companies. The complex will be located on the Mirninsky district territory of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). It should be noted that for the project in Yakutia, natural gas with the highest helium content is used as a raw material in comparison with other projects in the Russian Federation.Large reserves and resources of hydrocarbons, combined with the territorial remoteness of the fields of Eastern Siberia, require significant investments for their development and involvement in operation.