01
Sourcing & Offtake
Long-term offtake of crude helium and refined Grade-A 5.0 / 6.0 helium from producers across Qatar (Ras Laffan), the United States (La Barge, Cliffside, Hugoton), Algeria (Skikda, Arzew) and Canada (Saskatchewan).
Helium & Industrial Gases
The rare quiet trade
Long-cycle offtake, cryogenic logistics and Grade-A 6.0 supply into semiconductor, MRI and aerospace end-users worldwide.
The Helium Desk · MENA United Trading
Securing the molecule that powers the modern world.
Helium is irreplaceable in semiconductor manufacturing, MRI imaging, fibre-optic production and aerospace. Our desk delivers sourcing, offtake, international supply and cryogenic logistics — backed by long-term producer relationships across the Middle East, North America, Algeria and Canada.
Market context
A structurally tight, strategically critical commodity.
Concentrated, non-renewable supply
World production: Qatar ~30%, USA ~45%, Algeria ~10%, Russia ~7%, Canada / Australia / Tanzania emerging. Helium cannot be synthesised; once vented to atmosphere it is lost — so secure offtake matters.
Co-product economics
Most helium is a by-product of LNG (Qatar, Algeria) or natural-gas processing (USA), so production is dictated by hydrocarbon market dynamics — not by helium demand. This creates persistent supply tightness.
Critical end-uses
Semiconductor fabs (etching, leak-test), MRI scanners (superconducting magnets at 4 K), fibre-optic draw, rocket-engine purge, and emerging quantum-computing cryostats — all are non-substitutable.
Long-cycle contracts
Most volume moves under 5–20-year offtake contracts with annual escalators. Spot is thin and highly volatile during BLM / producer outages.
What we do
A full-service helium & industrial-gases desk.
02
International Supply
ISO container, tube-trailer and cylinder-pack delivery to semiconductor fabs, MRI / cryogenics, fibre-optic, aerospace and balloon-gas buyers across Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
03
Industrial Gases
Liquid Nitrogen (LIN), Gaseous Nitrogen (GAN), Liquid Argon (LAR) and specialty mixtures supplied bulk via cryogenic ISO containers to industrial and electronics buyers.
04
Cryogenic Logistics
End-to-end cold-chain — 11k / 20k / 40k-litre vacuum-jacketed dewars, boil-off management, port-to-fab inland trucking, customs clearance and hazardous-goods declarations.
05
Quality & Inspection
Independent COA per ASTM / ISO; 5N (99.999%) and 6N (99.9999%) certification with moisture, oxygen and total-hydrocarbon analysis. SGS / Intertek and producer-COA double-verification.
06
Risk & Compliance
OFAC / EU / UK screening, IMDG-class shipping, P&I and cargo insurance under Institute Cargo Clauses (A) — including war-risk cover for sensitive corridors.
Helium Watchlist
Helium benchmarks at a glance.
Pin the grades and equity tickers most relevant to your offtake — Crude Helium, Grade-A 5.0 / 6.0, Liquid Helium delivered, and listed producers like Royal Helium Ltd.
Last updated
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- Loading helium feed…
Helium Export Alerts
Supply, sanctions and producer events.
A curated stream of producer outages, government tenders, royalty changes and sanctions affecting global helium supply — synthesised by the desk for buyers and offtakers.
- Critical2h agoQatar — Ras Laffan
Helium-3 expansion brought online; spot Grade-A 5.0 softens 3–5% in NE Asia
QatarEnergy commissioning of the Helium-3 train adds incremental crude-helium recovery from LNG processing; near-term DES Asia indications USD 510–540 / Mcf.
- Watch9h agoUSA — Amarillo (BLM)
Final Cliffside Reserve auction tranche cleared
BLM completes divestiture; private buyers (Air Products, Linde, Messer) absorb residual capacity. Watch H2 2026 contract resets.
- Info1d agoCanada — Saskatchewan
Royal Helium Ltd. (TSX-V: RHC) confirms steady-state output at Steveville
Production tracking nameplate at the Steveville facility; Grade-A 5.0 throughput supports North American semiconductor offtake.
- Watch1d agoAlgeria — Skikda
Sonatrach LNG turnaround scheduled — co-product helium curtailed
Planned Skikda LNG maintenance window will reduce associated crude helium output by ~12% for 5 weeks; arbitrage to Europe tightens.
- Info2d agoAsia — Semiconductor demand
TSMC, Samsung, Intel Q-on-Q helium nominations up ~6%
Logic-fab ramp continues to lift Grade-A 6.0 demand. Long-term offtake renewal cycle skews bidder leverage to producers.
- Critical3d agoRussia — Amur GPP
Force-majeure declared at Amur Gas Processing Plant helium unit
Reduced Russian helium availability into Asia; Chinese buyers expected to draw on Qatar and Algerian supply.
Global Port Activity · Helium & Industrial Gases
Live shipments from origin to discharge.
Real-time AIS vessel positions for tankers and gas carriers in the Baltic / North-European corridor (sourced live from Fintraffic Digitraffic, CC BY 4.0), blended with our curated helium, LIN and argon shipment intelligence from Ras Laffan, Skikda, La Barge, Saskatchewan and Jebel Ali.
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Provider
Fintraffic Digitraffic
Page time (GST)
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SourceFintraffic Digitraffic · Baltic AIS · CC BY 4.0
Last verifiedConnecting…
Live · 0Indicative · 6
| Vessel / IMO | Cargo / Class | Status | Data Quality | ETA / SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Helix PioneerIndic. IMO 9854112 | LHe (Liquid Helium) | At Sea | Curated | +72h |
Cryo AuroraIndic. IMO 9821745 | Crude Helium | At Sea | Curated | +38h |
Linde VoyagerIndic. IMO 9712390 | Grade-A Helium 5.0 | Loading | Curated | +96h |
Air Liquide IXIndic. IMO 9660281 | Liquid Nitrogen (LIN) | At Sea | Curated | +18h |
Praxair QuattroIndic. IMO 9588012 | Liquid Argon (LAR) | Discharging | Curated | +4h |
Iwatani SpiritIndic. IMO 9874630 | Crude Helium | At Sea | Curated | +128h |
Data Quality Legend
- Fresh — AIS frame < 5 min old.
- Recent — 5–30 min old.
- Stale / Cached — > 30 min old, or upstream degraded.
- Curated — desk shipment intelligence, not AIS-broadcast.
Degraded-State Behavior
When the AIS upstream (Fintraffic Digitraffic) is unreachable or rate-limits us, the header switches to Degraded, live rows are re-tagged Cached with their last-known frame age, and curated rows continue to display. The feed retries every 60 seconds and resumes Fresh tagging on the next successful poll.
Coverage area: Baltic Sea / Gulf of Finland (public AIS receivers). For confirmed liftings and nominations worldwide, contact our trade desk.
The desk
Stewarded by a chairman who structured the trade.
Inam Qureshi
Chairman — MENA United Trading F.Z.C
Through his firm Syndicate Lending Corporation, Inam acted as sole agent to Airlife Gases Pvt Ltd on its acquisition of a controlling stake in Royal Helium Ltd. (TSX-V: RHC). Neither he nor MENA United holds equity in that issuer. He brings more than two decades of debt-advisory, capital-raising and structured-finance experience and a deep network across banking, energy and industrial-gas counterparties.
Helium Desk
Sourcing, offtake & cryogenic logistics
Our trading and logistics team operates across Vancouver, Dubai and Singapore hours — managing producer relationships, ISO container fleets, cold-chain execution and inspection / quality assurance for every cargo from origin to fab gate.
Frequently asked
Helium, simply explained.
What grades of helium do you supply?+
Crude Helium (50–80% purity) ex-plant for downstream purification, plus Grade-A 5.0 (99.999%) for general industrial / MRI use, and Grade-A 6.0 (99.9999%) for semiconductor and fibre-optic applications. Liquid Helium (LHe) at −269 °C in 11k / 20k / 40k-litre vacuum-jacketed ISO dewars.
How is helium priced?+
Crude helium FOB plant-gate in USD per Mcf (typically USD 250–350 / Mcf under term, USD 500+ in spot tightness). Grade-A is priced ex-liquefier with a purification + liquefaction adder. LHe is invoiced in USD/litre delivered — typical USD 17–22 / L DAP fab gate. See our Pricing 101 page for worked examples.
What about boil-off losses?+
Modern vacuum-jacketed ISO dewars boil off at ~1.5–3.0% per day. Under DAP terms this risk is borne by the seller; under FCA the buyer carries it. Practical maximum transit is 30 days before re-liquefaction is needed.
Do you supply nitrogen and argon as well?+
Yes. We supply Liquid Nitrogen (LIN), Gaseous Nitrogen (GAN), Liquid Argon (LAR) and specialty gas mixtures bulk via cryogenic ISO containers, with the same cold-chain, inspection and compliance discipline as our helium business.
What documentation is provided?+
Producer COA (5N / 6N), independent SGS / Intertek certificates on request, MSDS, IMDG declaration, IATA dangerous-goods declaration where applicable, B/L, packing list, COO and customs paperwork.
Speak to the helium desk
Lifting in 30 days? Let's talk.
Whether you need a single ISO of LHe for a fab build-out, a long-term offtake of Grade-A 5.0 for MRI manufacturing, or a structured-finance approach to upstream supply security, our desk responds within one business day.
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