Helium and geologic hydrogen are attracting exploration interest across sedimentary basins, crystalline basement rocks, rift systems, and areas of active water–rock interaction. Yet their prospects differ significantly. Helium already supports a global production and processing industry; naturally occurring hydrogen is an emerging resource whose large-scale commercial potential remains under evaluation.

In his presentation, “Helium and Hydrogen – Exploring the New Frontier,” Dr. Steven A. Tedesco examines both gases through a petroleum-geoscience lens, emphasizing a deceptively simple question: not merely whether helium or hydrogen is present, but whether a reservoir can produce enough recoverable gas, at a sustainable rate, to justify separation, transportation, and marketing.

Why the Two Gases Matter

Helium is an inert gas essential to applications such as magnetic resonance imaging, semiconductor manufacturing, scientific instrumentation, and specialized industrial processes. Its supply depends on a relatively small number of producing regions and on gas-processing infrastructure. Hydrogen, by contrast, is reactive and already widely used in refining and chemical manufacturing. Geologic hydrogen could become an additional source of hydrogen, but its subsurface exploration and production systems remain less mature.

The distinction matters because a promising gas analysis is not a commercial discovery. In both industries, concentration, recoverable volume, reservoir performance, processing requirements, and access to customers must be evaluated together.

How do Helium and Hydrogen Form and Accumulate?

Helium commonly originates from the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium in rocks, with additional contributions possible from deeper Earth sources. It may migrate into porous and permeable sedimentary reservoirs and become trapped beneath effective seals. Its commercial production frequently occurs alongside nitrogen, methane, or carbon dioxide.

Natural hydrogen can be generated by several processes, including reactions involving iron-rich mafic and ultramafic rocks, radiolysis of water, microbial activity, and potentially deep-sourced fluids. Serpentinization and other water–rock reactions are especially important exploration concepts. Unlike inert helium, hydrogen can be consumed by microbes or participate in mineral reactions, adding complexity to predictions about generation, migration, and preservation.

Tedesco stresses that both gases require workable combinations of source, migration pathway, reservoir, and seal. Salt, anhydrite, and thick, tight mudstone or carbonate intervals may provide favorable seals, while fractures, faults, or other leakage pathways can compromise retention. The occurrence of gas alone does not establish that a trap is effective or that gas can be recovered economically.

Why High Concentrations Can Be Misleading

One of the presentation’s most important observations is that some high-grade helium and hydrogen occurrences are also markedly underpressured. A test showing a high percentage of helium or hydrogen can generate excitement, yet still deliver low gas volumes. Conversely, long-lived helium operations have developed from much lower concentrations in enormous gas reservoirs.

Tedesco contrasts helium-rich but low-pressure prospects with mature producing systems such as the Texas Panhandle–Hugoton area, the La Barge–Big Piney region of Wyoming, and the North Dome/South Pars gas system shared by Qatar and Iran. The latter is cited as an example of how a very low helium concentration—approximately 0.04% in the presentation—can still be significant when the host-gas volume is exceptionally large.

For exploration teams, the practical checklist remains familiar: net pay, porosity, permeability, areal extent, gas in place, pressure gradient, gas composition, seal integrity, structural closure, water production, and sustained well deliverability. The same fundamentals used to appraise natural gas fields apply here, with additional attention to gas-specific geochemistry and separation costs.

What Global Case Studies Reveal

The presentation surveys established helium provinces and newer projects across North America, Africa, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East. Several examples illustrate the range of opportunities and uncertainties:

  • Saskatchewan, Canada: Cambrian sandstone reservoirs show how helium can be recovered from nitrogen-dominated gas streams. The presentation describes a producing well in the Mankota area with approximately 0.7% helium in the productive gas stream.
  • Minnesota, United States: Reported tests at the Bald Eagle Intrusion indicate unusually high helium concentrations, but the project also presents low reservoir-pressure conditions and substantial carbon dioxide in the gas stream. Tedesco explicitly identifies the reported company data as not independently verified in his presentation.
  • Tanzania and South Africa: Rift-associated and basement-influenced settings underscore the geological diversity of helium targets. In Tanzania, water production is highlighted as an operational consideration; South Africa’s Witwatersrand Basin illustrates interest in ancient, structurally complex helium systems.
  • Mali, Australia, and the Mid-Continent Rift: Hydrogen occurrences demonstrate encouraging geochemical evidence but also unresolved questions about reservoir pressure, sustainable flow rates, and the scale of recoverable resources. The presentation reviews the Bougou field in Mali, Australia’s Ramsay tests, and Mid-Continent Rift exploration in the United States.
  • Oman and the United Arab Emirates: Ophiolite-bearing, iron-rich rocks are presented as attractive settings for hydrogen generation through water–rock interaction, although generation potential does not by itself establish producible accumulations.

The Economic Test: Processing and Location

Helium extraction often depends on the economics of the host gas. Methane may provide an additional sales stream, while nitrogen-rich or carbon-dioxide-rich reservoirs may require different separation, handling, or disposal strategies. Tedesco emphasizes that a project with an impressive helium percentage can be uneconomic if gas throughput is too low or processing is too costly.

He estimates illustrative helium-extraction plant capital costs in the multimillion-dollar range and discusses the importance of sufficient production to support that investment. His broader point also applies to natural hydrogen: comparatively low product value per unit of transported volume makes distance to a customer, access to pipelines, and local demand especially consequential. The quoted costs and prices in the slides are presentation assumptions, not general industry benchmarks.

What Should Geoscientists Investigate Next?

Tedesco’s assessment is deliberately cautious about conventional, petroleum-style hydrogen accumulations. He argues that the industry needs stronger evidence for reservoir-scale volumes and sustained commercial flow, and raises engineered hydrogen generation from iron-rich rocks as a possible future pathway rather than a demonstrated production solution.

For the Energy Minerals Division, the presentation identifies a useful technical agenda: integrate geochemistry and rock–fluid reactions with basin analysis, structural geology, seal characterization, pressure and flow testing, and process engineering. The emerging challenge is to move beyond gas shows and high-percentage samples to independently verified resource volumes, repeatable deliverability, and full-cycle economics.

The central lesson is straightforward: helium demonstrates that a small concentration can become a major resource when geology, reservoir size, and infrastructure align. Geologic hydrogen offers exploration potential, but its pathway to dependable commercial production still requires rigorous testing.

Source and Attribution

Presentation source: Steven A. Tedesco, “Helium and Hydrogen – Exploring the New Frontier,” IMAGE EMD-DEG luncheon presentation, 2026. Key topics appear on slides 10–18 (geology and reservoir requirements), 20–47 (global examples), and 49–52 (processing, transport, and conclusions). A bibliography is provided on slide 54.

Editorial note: This page summarizes the speaker’s presentation and interpretations. Project-specific results, commercial status, prices, and cost estimates are time-sensitive and should be independently verified before being presented as current data.