Helium in Wyoming: from geology to production.

Abstract

Helium has been recognized as a critical and strategic element since World War I, and it is indispensable to a variety of industries ranging from healthcare to aerospace. Wyoming is one of the largest producers of helium in the world—all of it a by-product of natural gas and carbon dioxide production from the LaBarge platform. Increasing demand for helium, coupled with major shifts in the industry, natural gas production, and global geopolitics, have driven a series of worldwide supply shortages and price spikes over the past two decades. These shortages underscore the necessity of helium for advanced manufacturing and research, and have propelled a new wave of interest in this resource. In 2023 the Wyoming State Geological Survey published a report on helium in Wyoming, providing an overview of the state’s helium development and what is known about other occurrences of helium across the state. The report is accompanied by a digital dataset of helium concentrations, sampled from oil and gas wells across Wyoming, for use in future resource evaluation and exploration.

Bio

Kelsey Kehoe is a project geologist on the energy and minerals team at the Wyoming State Geological Survey. Her work focuses on the geology of Wyoming’s energy mineral and mineral industries. Since joining the WSGS in 2018, she has worked on a variety of projects, including investigating critical mineral occurrences, estimating coal resources, compiling mineral production and historic mining data, and bedrock mapping. Kelsey grew up on the California coast between the San Andreas and San Gregorio faults. She received her B.S. in Geology from San Francisco State University and her M.S. in Geology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her background is in analytical geochemistry, petrography, thermal maturity, and isotope geochemistry.