Under the influence of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the global energy supply bears the brunt. Among them, China’s high dependence on imported helium supply has attracted much attention from the capital market. On April 6, in the A-share market, the concept of natural gas and the concept of helium received a net inflow of funds, and listed companies actively deployed, and received high attention in the research of investment institutions.
As a non-renewable resource and an important strategic rare gas, helium, also known as “gold gas”, is mainly used in low-temperature superconductivity, high-end equipment manufacturing, medical treatment and large-scale scientific projects. The Securities Times pointed out in a report on April 2 that “Bitcoin-like” jumps through rare gases to be alert to the run on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Although Ukraine does not produce helium, because of Russia’s sanctions, the European Union is rushing to buy it around the world. Natural gas resources, which indirectly affect the production of helium extracted from natural gas.
The security of domestic helium supply has also attracted widespread attention from investment institutions. On the disk on April 6, Snowman shares rose by the daily limit, and Shudao Equipment (formerly “Cryogenic Shares”) rose 5.68% to close at 26.04%.
On the news, the media reported recently that the BOG helium extraction project of Inner Mongolia Yahai Energy has entered the substantive construction stage. The helium extraction project is to extract helium from BOG gas generated in 600,000 tons of liquefied natural gas. The total investment of the project is 60 million yuan, and the total designed BOG processing capacity is 1599m/h. The project is expected to enter trial operation and trial production in September. Shudao Equipment confirmed to Securities Times E Company that the project is under construction.
According to the disclosure of Shudao Equipment on December 10 last year, the listed company and Yahai Energy have carried out in-depth cooperation in the field of helium extraction to make full use of the high content of helium in the raw natural gas of Yahai in Inner Mongolia and the advanced technology of the company’s LNG plant BOG helium extraction process. The two parties established a project company as the main body of investment in the BOG helium extraction plant, and invested in the BOG helium extraction plant of the 600,000-ton LNG project in Yahai, Inner Mongolia. after income tax) 4.39 years.
From the perspective of the overall supply structure, China’s helium is highly dependent on foreign imports.
According to feedback from gas manufacturers and data statistics agencies to reporters, helium gas has tripled around February of the Chinese New Year, from 100 yuan to 200 yuan per cubic meter at the beginning of the year, and has recently risen to 500 to 600 yuan per cubic meter; 2021 China imported 3,685 tons of helium, which is the most important rare gas imported. The main importing countries include Qatar and the United States, accounting for about 90%.
According to the statistics of Longzhong Information, as of March 31, the monthly average price of high-purity helium in tube bundles has risen to 383 yuan / cubic meter, a month-on-month increase of 69%, an increase of about twice the year-on-year increase. Under the difficulties, the price of mainstream distribution companies has risen to 400-500 yuan / cubic meter. Inner Mongolia’s mainstream production enterprises rose to 460-501 yuan / cubic meter, of which the highest price in Inner Mongolia reached 512 yuan / cubic meter. According to customs data, China imported 662.6 tons of helium from January to February, an increase of 38% over the same period in 2021, and the average import price was US$80.2/kg. Among them, China’s helium imports hit a record high in January, and helium imports hit a six-year low in February.
In the investigation of the agency, some investors asked Walt Gas executives about the reasons for China’s high dependence on helium, and the company’s helium source guarantee. In the reply, the company executive stated that the production of helium usually uses natural gas containing 0.4-2% helium as the raw material, which is once concentrated by cryogenic separation, and purified and extracted by adsorption method. The content of helium in natural gas in my country is common. It is very low, basically below 400PPm. For example, directly extracting helium from natural gas with low helium content requires many process equipment, long technical route and extremely high cost.
China is currently unable to mass-produce helium, and it mainly relies on imports. Walt Gas has been producing helium in purified form to supply downstream, and attaches great importance to the gas source of this product. The company signed a long-term gas source contract before listing.
In response to institutional investors, Jinhong Gas executives pointed out that the company’s operations are mainly internal circulation, and the Russian-Ukrainian war has improved the company’s helium business prosperity. Since 2020, the company has begun to deploy the entire industry chain of purchasing liquid helium tanks and directly filling liquid helium from abroad, and ushered in the first imported helium tank on March 25 this year, which marks the company has opened up. Helium resource. In 2021, the company’s helium business will achieve an operating income of 30 million yuan, and it is expected that the helium business will maintain good revenue and profit elasticity this year.Return to Sohu, see more
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