Helium production in Russia hits 10-yr high in 2012
MOSCOW. Feb 27 (Interfax) - The sole producer of helium in Russia, LLC Gazprom Dobycha Orenburg, increased output 39.6% last year to almost 4.923 million cubic meters, which was "a repeat record for helium production from ten years ago," the company's corporate newsletter says.
This year, helium production continues at a good clip - the January production plan was exceeded by 20.2%.
The increase in helium output outstripped the increase in world demand for the lighter-than-air gas and drops in production in the United States and Algeria. Orenburg helium almost 82% filled the Large Hadron Collider. Russian helium has been being delivered to the Asia-Pacific region since 2011.
Last year, All-Russia Production Association Geliymash created the first Russian-made tanks for the transportation of liquid helium, which were tested out by specialists from the Orenburg plant. These are for transporting helium with no leakage for thirty days. This means the issue of delivering Russian helium to any point in the world has been resolved.
Ethane production was up 1.4%, and the enterprise's share of Russian production of this gas is now 80%. Production of butane fractions increased 8.3% and output of pentane-hexane fractions 4.2%.
The shipment of sulphur (1.5 million tonnes) topped production of the product last year for the first time. Warehouse inventory was cut in half.