NATURAL RESOURCES
Helium to take centre stage at Renergen as value rockets
AltX-listed energy holding group Renergen says helium production will become core to the group after the value of its helium gas reserves in Virginia in the Free State rose 27% — from R6.6bn to R8.4bn — boosted by rising global oil prices. This comes after US-based MHA Petroleum Consultants last week upgraded helium reserves as a component of Renergen’s overall methane gas reserves of 269-billion cubic feet to 6.21-billion cubic feet on a discovered commercial basis. Contingent helium reserves are confirmed at about 25-billion cubic feet. Helium production would begin in the latter part of 2019. At present the gas is 100% imported into SA. "With our concentrations we can extract helium on demand," Renergen CEO Stefano Marani said. Compressed natural gas — methane stored at high pressure — can replace petrol, diesel and liquid petroleum gas. But Renergen’s methane reserves have a far higher hel-ium component than the global average, allowing it to be viably exploited. The jump in the...
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