Scientists tell us that helium comprises 25 percent of the universe, which makes it the most abundant element with the exception of hydrogen. All natural gas contains trace quantities of helium, and the helium that is in our party balloons and in the chambers of our commercial divers was extracted from natural gas.

The hydrogen bomb gets its energy from the fusion of hydrogen into helium, and the element is essential to the nuclear reactions that fuel the sun and stars. Here on earth, however, minable quantities of helium are finite and declining. Even though the air we breathe consists of one part in 200,000 helium, commercial helium extraction requires much higher concentrations, in the range of one-half of one percent, to be economically viable.

Deep Diving Practices
Helium was first experimented with as a replacement gas for nitrogen by the US Navy beginning in 1912, and its first big success came in 1939 when it was integral in the diving salvage of the downed submarine USS Squalus at a depth of 243 feet (74m). Because nitrogen causes narcosis and central nervous system toxicity, it was recognized early that a different mix of breathing gases would provide advantages that would allow divers to stay down longer and with greater safety.

Helium is, however, a very efficient conductor of heat, which means that if the diver is not kept warm it can hasten the reduction of his core body temperature. Another problem is, of course, the effect it has on the diver's speech, which has resulted in the development of many special communications devices over the years to correct the change in pitch that is caused by rapidly vibrating vocal cords.

There was a time when helium was treated as a consumable item. It was considered to be relatively plentiful and inexpensive, and less emphasis was placed on conserving the gas. In a paper presented by Richard Lemak of Air Products at Underwater Intervention 2002, he stated that US crude helium costs will double within three years. A main driver of this cost increase is the federal government's 1996 Helium Privatization Act, which directed the government to sell off its helium reserve at prices considerably higher than what is found in the private sector.

According to Lemak, "While the best-producing sites currently are found in a few US natural gas fields that are depleting, data indicate the most cost-effective future sources are overseas."

Currently over 80 percent of the world's output of helium occurs in the United States. Most of that comes from fields located in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, although promising discoveries are being developed in other states.

The largest domestic uses for helium are in lifting applications and welding. Helium's use in breathing atmospheres accounts for only about two percent of the commercial market. Obviously that means that the commercial diving industry is set to ride the helium price market rather than to drive it.

There seems to be a disparity in the treatment of helium reclaim by Gulf of Mexico (GOM) offshore contractors, as opposed to those who work in the North Sea. How significant this disparity is seems to be subjective, but diving contractors universally recognize the declining supply and the upward pressure on market prices.

"For the past 15 years there has been no saturation diving conducted in the North Sea without both reclaim of the divers gas and the gas used in the chambers," stated Derek Clarke of Divex (UK). "The market conditions here are such that no contractor would be competitive unless the work was done with the benefit of reclaim, as gas is not a reimbursible item."

Clarke goes on to explain that, "Our perception is that, while diver gas reclaim is becoming the norm in the Gulf, it is not a given, and some contracts are still won with reimbursible terms. In this situation, gas consumption is an income stream for the contractor because they charge on to the client on a cost-plus basis. Very little chamber gas reclaim and helium purification is undertaken, so the relative consumption of gas is higher in the Gulf than in the North Sea."

When asked to comment on the issue of helium reclaim, Bob Merriman of Global Industries said, "Helium reclaim is widely used in the GOM. At Global, all our saturation dive systems are equipped with a diver's gas reclaim system."

He adds that Global does not reclaim chamber gas. "The North Sea guys do reclaim chamber gas a lot more than we do here. The reason we do not normally reclaim chamber gas is that most of our systems do not have onboard gas storage systems. We use rental gas flasks on most of our jobs and the flasks are returned to the supplier after the job, so even if we had reclaimed our chamber gas we would lose it, plus get charged a cleaning fee because we had contaminated their flasks with oxygen."

Merriman explains that the diver's gas reclaim used in the Gulf of Mexico is the same one used in the North Sea. "It is, in fact, not a reclaim system at all. It is a closed-circuit system which brings the diver's exhaled gas back to the surface via a hose. It is then scrubbed of CO2 and has the O2 replaced and pumped back down to the diver. The gas is used over and over during the job, with only gas that is lost to the water being replaced."

Merriman asserts that the system cuts down the diver's gas consumption by 85 to 95 percent, but the gas is not in fact reclaimed, just reused. "It is known as a gas reclaim system, however," he adds.

But how much precious helium is lost when the diver's gas is dumped at the end of a job? "It is not very much," answers Merriman. "Usually less than 1,000 cubic feet, which is a little over 100 dollars worth of gas. Keeping it would be impractical since it may not be a proper mix for the next job, plus the reprocessing unit needs to be maintained and cleaned. If the next job is a similar depth and happens quickly, then the gas would not be dumped, just rolled over to the next job."

Obviously, the economics of helium conservation vary according to both local and global market conditions. One thing is clear: there is a finite quantity of helium on earth. The element is formed in radioactive decay processes that have been taking place in the earth's crust for billions of years, and it cannot be synthesized.