HELIUM PROGRAM

Urgent Issues Facing 

BLM’s Storage and Sale 

of Helium Reserves

Statement of Daniel Garcia-Diaz, Director 

Natural Resources and Environment

Testimony 

Before the Committee on Natural 

Resources, House of Representatives

For Release on Delivery 

Expected at 10:00 a.m. EST

Thursday, February 14, 2013

GAO-13-351T

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-13-351T, a testimony 

before the Committee on Natural Resources, 

House of Representatives

February 14, 2013

HELIUM PROGRAM

Urgent Issues Facing BLM’s Storage and Sale of 

Helium Reserves

Why GAO Did This Study

The federal government has been 

extensively involved in the production, 

storage, and use of helium since the 

early part of the twentieth century. The 

federal helium program is currently 

managed by the Department of the 

Interior’s BLM. During the 1960s and 

early 1970s, Interior purchased about 

34 billion cubic feet of crude helium for 

conservation purposes and to meet 

federal helium needs, such as for the 

space program and scientific research. 

Crude helium is a gas of 50 to 85 

percent helium. While some of this

helium was used to meet federal 

needs, most of it was retained in 

storage. The funds used to purchase 

this helium became a debt owed by the 

program. BLM now sells crude helium 

from the reserve, and the proceeds go 

into the revolving Helium Fund, which 

is used to finance the program and 

payoff the program’s debt. 

GAO reported on the management of 

the helium program in the 1990s 

(GAO/RCED-92-44 and GAO/RCED93-1).

Since GAO’s reviews of the program in 

the 1990s, key changes have affected 

the program, and a 2010 report by the 

National Academies’ National 

Research Council concluded that it is 

time to reassess the program. GAO 

testified on the helium program in May 

2010 (GAO-10-700T). This testimony 

is an update of GAO’s May 2010 

testimony and discusses (1) how the 

Helium Privatization Act of 1996 

addressed issues raised by GAO in the 

1990s and (2) three urgent issues 

facing the helium program in the near 

future.

GAO is not making any 

recommendations in this testimony.

What GAO Found

Since GAO’s reports in the early 1990s, the Helium Privatization Act of 1996 has 

caused considerable changes to the helium program and addressed or altered 

GAO’s prior concerns. In 1992, GAO reported on various aspects of the federal 

helium program including the helium debt, pricing, and alternatives for meeting 

federal helium needs. 

• Helium debt. In 1992, GAO recommended that Congress cancel the helium 

program’s debt since doing so would not adversely affect the federal budget, 

as the debt consisted of outlays that had already been appropriated and 

interest that was a paper transaction. As of September 1991, this debt had 

grown to about $1.3 billion, over $1 billion of which was interest that had 

accrued on the original debt principal of about $290 million. The 1996 act did 

not cancel the debt as GAO had recommended, but it did freeze the growth 

of the program’s debt and, as a result, the debt should be paid off this year. 

• Helium pricing. The helium debt was also a factor in setting the price of 

federal helium. In 1992, GAO recognized that, if the helium debt was 

cancelled, Congress might need to propose a new pricing scheme. The 1996

act requires a specific method for pricing helium. This, along with other 

changes in the supply and demand for helium, has resulted in the Bureau of 

Land Management’s (BLM) price to be at or below the market price. 

• Alternatives for meeting federal helium needs. In 1992, GAO recommended 

that Congress reassess the conservation objectives of the helium program 

and consider other alternatives to meet federal helium needs. In resetting the 

program’s objectives, the 1996 act directed Interior to stop refining helium 

and established a modified in-kind approach for meeting federal helium 

needs. Agencies must purchase helium from refiners that then purchase an 

equivalent amount of crude helium from BLM.

Changes in the helium market have generated concerns about the future 

availability of helium for federal and other needs. The Helium Privatization Act of 

1996 did not provide a specific direction for the federal helium program past 

2015. Three urgent issues facing the program are as follows: 

• How will the helium program be funded after 2013? If the helium program’s 

debt is paid off this year, as expected, the revolving Helium Fund will be 

terminated as required by the 1996 act. When GAO last testified on this 

issue, the estimated payoff date was 5 years away in 2015. The schedule 

has accelerated primarily because of improved crude helium sales. 

• At what price should BLM sell its helium? In the past, the debt has been a 

factor in the price, and the price has been above the market price. After 

2013, the debt will be paid off, and the current price is at or below market.

• How should the helium owned by the federal government be used? BLM’s 

effort to sell off the excess helium in storage will not be completed by 

January 1, 2015, as required by the 1996 act. As of September 30, 2012, 

there were 11.44 billion cubic feet of conservation helium in storage. After 

BLM is finished drawing down the reserve, some believe that the United 

States could become a net importer of helium.

View GAO-13-351T. For more information, 

contact Daniel Garcia-Diaz at (202) 512-3841 

or garciadiazd@gao.gov.
 

Page 1 GAO-13-351T 

Chairman Hastings, Ranking Member Markey, and Members of the 

Committee:

I am pleased to be here today to discuss the federal helium program 

currently managed by the Department of the Interior’s (Interior) Bureau of 

Land Management (BLM). As you know, helium is an important 

nonrenewable natural resource that has a variety of uses. The federal 

government uses helium for, among other things, the space program, 

national security applications, and scientific research. For many of its 

uses, helium has no substitute.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, to fulfill the conservation objective of 

the Helium Act Amendments of 1960,1 Interior purchased about 34 billion 

cubic feet of helium from private crude helium producers.2 In the 1990s, 

we reported to, and testified before the Subcommittee on Energy and 

Mineral Resources on Interior’s management of the federal helium 

program.3

Since our reports in the early 1990s, key changes have affected the 

federal helium program, and a 2010 report by the National Academies’ 

National Research Council concluded that it is time once again to 

reassess the program.

In May 1993, we testified that Interior had enough helium in 

storage to meet federal needs until at least 2070 and that a reassessment 

of the objectives of the Helium Act was needed.

4

 

1

Pub. L. No. 86-777, 74 Stat. 918 (1960), codified as amended at 50 U.S.C. §§ 167-167m.

We revisited our work from the 1990s, and we 

raised some issues facing BLM’s helium program in our May 13, 2010, 

testimony before this Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral 

2

“Crude helium” is a gas containing approximately 50 to 85 percent helium.

3

GAO, Mineral Resources: Federal Helium Purity Should Be Maintained, 

GAO/RCED-92-44 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 8, 1991); GAO, Mineral Resources: Meeting 

Federal Needs for Helium, GAO/RCED-93-1 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 30, 1992); GAO, 

Mineral Resources: Meeting Federal Needs for Helium, GAO/T-RCED-93-44 

(Washington, D.C.: May 20, 1993); GAO, Mineral Resources: H.R. 3967 – A Bill to 

Change How Federal Needs For Refined Helium Are Met, GAO/T-RCED-94-183 

(Washington, D.C.: Apr. 19, 1994); and GAO, Terminating Federal Helium Refining, 

GAO/RCED-95-252R (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 28, 1995).

4

National Research Council, Selling the Nation’s Helium Reserve (Washington, D.C.: 

National Academies Press, 2010).

 
 

Page 2 GAO-13-351T 

Resources.5 My testimony today will describe (1) how the Helium 

Privatization Act of 1996 addressed issues we raised in the 1990s and 

(2) three urgent issues facing the helium program in the near future. This 

testimony summarizes and updates the information presented in our 

May 2010 testimony. Our May 2010 testimony was a performance audit 

conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards. A detailed description of our scope and methodology is 

presented in our May 2010 testimony.6

Helium is an inert element that occurs naturally in gaseous form and has 

a variety of uses (see table 1).7 Helium’s many uses arise from its unique 

physical and chemical characteristics. For example, helium has the 

lowest melting and boiling point of any element and, as the second 

lightest element, gaseous helium is much lighter than air.

 

5

GAO, Helium Program: Key Developments Since the Early 1990s and Future 

Considerations, GAO-10-700T (Washington, D.C.: May 13, 2010). In addition, hearings 

were held in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives on helium in 2012. See, 

Helium Stewardship: Hearing to Receive Testimony on S. 2374, The Helium Stewardship 

Act of 2012 Before the Senate Comm. on Energy and Natural Resources, 112th Cong. 

(2012); and Helium: Supply Shortages Impacting our Economy, National Defense and 

Manufacturing Oversight Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Energy and Mineral 

Resources of the House Comm. on Natural Resources, 112th Cong. (2012).

6

GAO-10-700T. 

7

Helium in this statement refers to helium-4, the most abundant naturally occurring helium 

isotope. Helium-3, which has its own supply and demand issues, is not the focus of this 

statement. For additional information on helium-3, see GAO, Technology Assessment: 

Neutron Detectors: Alternatives to Using Helium-3, GAO-11-753 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 

29, 2011), and GAO, Managing Critical Isotopes: Weaknesses in DOE’s Management of 

Helium-3 Delayed the Federal Response to a Critical Supply Shortage, GAO-11-472 

(Washington, D.C.: May 12, 2011).

Background 
 

Page 3 GAO-13-351T 

Table 1: Estimated Helium Uses in the United States, 2010

Category of use Examples of applications

Amount used 

(million cubic 

feet) Percentage

Cryogenics Magnetic resonance imagining (MRI)

Fundamental science

Industrial cryogenic processing

480 26

Controlled

 atmospheres

Optical fiber manufacturing

Semiconductor manufacturing

407 22

Pressure/purge Space and defense rocket purging

 and pressurizing

314 17

Welding Metal welding 314 17

Chromatography/ 

lifting gas/

heat transfer

Chromatography

Weather balloons

Military reconnaissance

Heat transfer in next-generation

 nuclear reactors

Party balloons

220 12

Leak detection Leak detection 76 4 

Breathing

 mixtures

Commercial diving 36 2 

Total 1,846 100

Sources: U.S. Geological Survey’s 2010 Minerals Yearbook and the National Research Council.

Note: Totals may not add because of rounding.

Certain natural gas fields contain a relatively large amount of naturally 

occurring helium, which can be recovered as a secondary product. The 

helium is separated from the natural gas and stored in a concentrated 

form that is referred to as crude helium because it has yet to go through 

the final refining process.8

The federal government has been extensively involved in the production, 

storage, and use of helium since the early part of the twentieth century. 

The federal government has a reserve of crude 

helium that is stored in the ground in an area of a natural gas field that 

has a naturally occurring underground structural dome near Amarillo, 

Texas. In addition to the federal government’s reserve of crude helium, 

private companies that are connected to BLM’s pipeline and pay a 

storage fee, are also able to store and retrieve their own private crude 

helium reserves from the same storage area.

 

8

Refined helium has a varying purity of 99.99 percent to 99.9999 percent helium.
 

Page 4 GAO-13-351T 

The federal government and private sector cooperatively produced helium 

before 1925, specifically for military uses. The Helium Act of 1925,9 as 

amended, assigned responsibility for producing helium for federal users 

to Interior’s Bureau of Mines.10

The Helium Act Amendments of 1960 stipulated that the price of federal

helium cover all of the helium program’s costs, including interest on the 

program’s debt. The 1960 act required the Secretary of the Interior to 

determine a value for net capital and retained earnings, establish this 

value as debt in the Helium Fund, and add subsequent program 

borrowings to that debt. The program’s borrowings were authorized by 

subsequent appropriations acts and recorded as outlays in the federal 

budget in the years in which they were expended. In addition, the interest 

was added to the debt in the Helium Fund. However, this interest is 

simply a paper transaction, not a government outlay. The Bureau of 

Mines determined that the value of the program’s net capital and retained 

earnings was about $40 million in 1960. Subsequent borrowings from the 

U.S. Treasury totaling about $252 million were used to purchase helium 

for storage. By September 30, 1991, the debt had grown to about 

$1.3 billion, of which more than $1 billion consisted of interest because 

the interest accrued faster than the program could repay the debt.

From 1937 until 1960, the Bureau of 

Mines was the sole producer of helium. The act provided that funds from 

helium sales be used to finance the program by establishing a revolving 

fund known as the helium production fund. Such revolving funds are used 

to finance a cycle of business-type operations by charging for the sale of 

products and then using the proceeds to finance their spending. In the 

federal budget, this fund is referred to as the Helium Fund, and it is used 

to account for the program’s revenues and expenses.

The Helium Privatization Act of 1996 significantly changed the objectives 

and functions of Interior’s helium program.11

 

9

Pub. L. No. 68-544, 43 Stat. 1110 (1925) (originally codified at 50 U.S.C. §§ 161-166 and 

currently codified as amended at 50 U.S.C. §§ 167-167m).

For example, the 1996 act 

made the following key changes:

10The Bureau of Mines was established in 1910 and abolished in 1996. The helium 

program was transferred to BLM.

11Pub. L. No. 104-273, 110 Stat. 3315 (1996), codified at 50 U.S.C. §§ 167-167m.
 

Page 5 GAO-13-351T 

• Interior was required to close all government-owned refined helium 

production facilities and to terminate the marketing of refined helium 

within 18 months of enactment (50 U.S.C. § 167b(b),(c));

• the helium program’s debt was frozen as of October 1, 1995 

(50 U.S.C. § 167d(c)); 

• Interior was required to offer for sale all but 600 million cubic feet of 

the crude helium in storage on a straight-line basis—a depreciation 

method that spreads out the cost of an asset equally over its 

lifetime—by January 1, 2015 (50 U.S.C. § 167f(a)(1));

• Interior was required to set sale prices to cover the crude helium 

reserve’s operating costs and to produce an amount sufficient to 

repay the program’s debt. The price at which Interior sells crude 

helium was required to be equal to or greater than a formula that 

incorporates the amount of debt to be repaid divided by the volume of 

crude helium remaining in storage, with a consumer price index 

adjustment (50 U.S.C. §§ 167d(c), 167f(a)(3)). Furthermore, when the 

debt is fully paid off, the revolving Helium Fund shall be terminated 

(50 U.S.C. § 167d(e)(2)(B));

• Interior was allowed to maintain its role in the helium storage business 

(50 U.S.C. § 167b(a)); and

• established a modified “in-kind” program to meet federal needs for 

helium. Rather than purchasing refined helium directly from Interior, 

federal agencies were required to purchase their major helium 

requirements from persons who have entered into enforceable 

contracts to purchase an equivalent amount of crude helium from 

Interior (50 U.S.C. § 167d(a)).12

As directed by Congress, the National Academies’ National Research 

Council reviewed the helium program and released a report in 2000 that 

evaluated the changes made in the program, the effects of these changes 

on the program, and several scenarios for managing the federal 

 

12The term “person” means any individual, corporation, partnership, firm, association, 

trust, estate, public or private institution, or state or political subdivision thereof. 50 U.S.C. 

§ 167(2).
 

Page 6 GAO-13-351T 

government’s reserve of helium in the future.13 Because of subsequent 

changes in price and availability of helium, in 2008, the National 

Research Council convened a committee to determine if the current 

implementation of the helium program was having an adverse effect on 

U.S. scientific, technical, biomedical, and national security users of 

helium. The committee reported on these effects in early 2010 and 

concluded that the current implementation of the program has adversely 

affected critical users of helium and was not in the best interest of the 

U.S. taxpayers or the country.

Since our reports in the early 1990s, the Helium Privatization Act of 1996 

has caused considerable changes to the helium program and addressed 

or altered our prior concerns. In October 1992, we reported on various 

aspects of the federal helium program including the helium debt, pricing, 

and alternatives for meeting federal helium needs.14

In October 1992, we recommended that Congress cancel the helium 

program’s debt. As of September 1991, the debt had grown to about 

$1.3 billion, over $1 billion of which was interest that had accrued on the 

original debt principal of about $290 million. At that time, the deadline for 

paying off the debt was 1995. We reported that the only way to pay off the 

debt by that deadline would be to charge federal agencies with major 

requirements for helium over $3,000 per thousand cubic feet of helium, 

compared to the price at that time of $55. We recommended that 

Congress cancel the debt in the Helium Fund because it was no longer 

realistic to expect the debt to be repaid by the statutory deadline of 1995, 

and because canceling the debt would not adversely affect the federal 

budget as the debt consisted of outlays that had already been 

appropriated and interest that was a paper transaction. The 1996 act did 

not cancel the debt, as we had recommended, but because the 1996 act 

effectively froze the debt at $1.37 billion, and interest no longer accrued, 

BLM has been able to pay off a large portion of its debt. As of the end of 

 

13National Research Council, The Impact of Selling the Federal Helium Reserve

(Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2000).

14GAO/RCED-93-1. 

The Helium 

Privatization Act 

of 1996 Addressed 

or Altered Our 

Prior Concerns

Helium Debt
 

Page 7 GAO-13-351T 

fiscal year 2012, BLM had $44 million in debt remaining, which according 

to BLM officials it expects to pay off this year (see fig. 1).

Figure 1: Balance of the Helium Debt, Fiscal Years 2003 through 2012

The helium debt was also a factor in setting the price of federal helium. In 

1992, GAO recognized that if the helium debt was cancelled, Congress 

may wish to propose a new pricing scheme. The 1996 act did not cancel 

the debt, as we had recommended, but it did require a specific method for 

pricing crude helium. The initial minimum BLM selling price for crude 

helium after the act was passed was almost double the price for private 

crude helium at that time. However, after BLM started to sell its crude 

helium, according to the method specified in the act, the market price for 

crude and refined helium began to change. According to the National 

Research Council, the private sector began using the BLM crude price as 

a benchmark for establishing its price and, as a result, privately sourced 

crude helium prices increased and now they meet or exceed BLM’s price. 

Increases in the price of crude helium have also led to increases in the 

price of refined helium (see fig. 2). Refined helium prices have more than 

tripled from 2000 through 2012 pursuant to demand trends.

Helium Pricing
 

Page 8 GAO-13-351T 

Figure 2: BLM Crude Helium Price and Refined (Grade A) Price Estimates, Fiscal 

Years 2000 through 2012

Note: For fiscal years 2000 through 2010, BLM had only one sale price for crude helium for both “inkind” and “open market” sales. Beginning in fiscal year 2011, BLM instituted a new two-tier pricing 

system. The crude helium price used in the figure for fiscal years 2011 and 2012—$75.00 and 

$75.75 per thousand cubic feet, respectively—is the higher price for “open market” sales. The lower 

price for “in-kind” sales for fiscal years 2011 and 2012 was $64.75 and $65.50 per thousand cubic 

feet, respectively.

In 1992, GAO recommended that Congress reassess the conservation 

objectives of the helium program and consider other alternatives to meet 

federal helium needs. As part of the resetting of the helium program’s 

objectives, the 1996 act established a revised approach for meeting 

federal needs for helium. In 1998, BLM began using in-kind sales to 

federal agencies. The in-kind regulations established procedures for BLM 

to sell crude helium to authorized helium supply companies and required 

federal agency buyers to purchase helium from these approved 

Alternatives for Meeting 

Federal Helium Needs
 

Page 9 GAO-13-351T 

suppliers.15

Figure 3: In-Kind Helium Sales by Federal Agency, Fiscal Years 2003 through 2012

Since the in-kind program started, the sales to federal 

agencies have fluctuated, primarily due to the National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration’s unique requirement for large volumes of helium 

on a sporadic basis. Total federal in-kind sales for fiscal year 2012 were 

160.67 million cubic feet (see fig. 3).

As we testified in 2010, changes in helium prices, production, and 

demand have generated concerns about the future availability of helium 

for the federal government and other critical purposes. The Helium 

Privatization Act of 1996 does not provide a specific direction for the 

helium program past 2015. As a result of these factors, in 2010, we 

identified three areas of uncertainty about the program’s direction after 

 

1543 C.F.R. Part 3195.

Three Urgent Issues 

Facing the Helium 

Program 
 

Page 10 GAO-13-351T 

2015. The same three areas are even more urgent today because 

3 years have passed since our 2010 testimony, and BLM’s schedule for 

paying off the program’s debt has accelerated. Specifically, the three 

urgent issues are as follows:

• How will the helium program be funded after 2013? If the helium 

program’s debt is paid off this year, as expected, and the revolving 

helium fund is terminated, it is not clear how the operations of the 

helium program will be paid for. Currently the helium program does 

not receive any appropriated funds for its operations. The revenues 

generated by the program go into the Helium Fund, and the program 

has access to those funds to pay for its day-to-day operations. It is 

uncertain at this point how the helium program’s operations will be 

funded after 2013. BLM is still evaluating possible options, but it may 

have to undertake an orderly shutdown of the helium reserve unless 

the revolving fund is not terminated or appropriated funds are 

available for crude helium sales and the operations of the reserve. 

When we last testified on this issue, the estimated payoff date was 

5 years away in 2015, and it was more closely aligned with the 1996 

act’s requirement to sell down the helium reserve by January 1, 2015. 

The debt payoff schedule has accelerated primarily because of 

improved sales of the crude helium offered for sale. As a result, BLM’s 

helium program will not have a funding mechanism for its continued 

operation until 2015. Furthermore, because of some years of slow 

sales, BLM estimates that it will need to continue helium sales from 

the reserve until sometime between 2018 and 2020 to reach the 1996 

act’s requirement to draw down to 600 million cubic feet.

• At what price should BLM sell its crude helium? Since the Helium 

Privatization Act of 1996 was passed, BLM has set the price for 

federal crude helium at the minimum price required by the act. 

However, because federal crude helium reserves provide a major 

supply of crude helium, we expect BLM’s prices will continue to affect 

private industry market prices for crude and refined helium. When 

BLM first set its price after the 1996 act, its price was estimated to be 

significantly higher than the market price, but now the reverse is 

true—BLM’s price for crude helium is estimated to be at or below the 

market price for refined helium. The 1996 act, like the Helium Act 

Amendments of 1960 before it, tied the price to the program’s 

operating expenses and debt. If the debt is paid off in 2013, as 

projected, the debt will no longer be a factor in setting helium prices. 

BLM officials told us that the 1996 act sets a minimum selling price 

and that the Secretary of the Interior has the discretion to set a higher 

price. In response to a recommendation in the National Research 
 

Page 11 GAO-13-351T 

Council’s 2010 report, beginning in fiscal year 2011, BLM 

implemented a new two-tiered pricing system. Under the new pricing 

system, in-kind sales involving federal agencies continued to be 

based on the minimum selling price set in the 1996 act, while other 

sales to nongovernmental entities are charged a higher price based 

on debt repayment and cost recovery factors.16 The new pricing 

system, however, is still not a market-based pricing system. In 

November 2012, Interior’s Office of Inspector General recommended 

that BLM implement a new helium pricing process by the end of 2013 

to ensure a fair return on the sale of helium.17

• How should the helium remaining in storage after 2015 be used? The 

Helium Privatization Act of 1996 required BLM to offer for sale 

substantially all of the helium in storage by January 1, 2015. While the 

required amounts have been offered for sale, only 79 percent of the 

amounts offered for sale have actually been sold (see table 2). BLM 

will likely still have significantly more crude helium in storage than the 

600 million cubic feet required by the 1996 act. As of September 30, 

2012, there were 11.44 billion cubic feet of conservation helium in 

storage.18 According to the 2010 report by the National Academies’ 

National Research Council, the United States could become a net 

importer of helium within the next 7 to 12 years, and the principal new 

sources of helium will be in the Middle East and Russia. Given these 

circumstances, the National Academies’ report recommended that 

Congress may want to reevaluate how the domestic crude helium 

reserve is used or conserved. It is uncertain at this point how the 

helium still remaining in storage after January 1, 2015, will be used.

 

16According to BLM officials, federal agencies must negotiate their own purchasing 

contacts directly with an authorized helium supply company. BLM does not track the price 

negotiated and paid by federal agencies. The authorized helium supply companies are 

required to purchase the same amount of helium, by volume, as sold to federal agencies. 

The price that the companies pay to buy the crude helium from BLM for these transactions 

involving federal agency sales is the “in-kind” sales price.

17Department of the Interior, Office of Inspector General, Bureau of Land Management’s 

Helium Program, C-IN-MOA-0010-2011 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 9, 2012).

18According to BLM, the native natural gas in the reserve contains an additional 2.44 

billion cubic feet of helium.
 

Page 12 GAO-13-351T 

Table 2: Actual and Projected Crude Helium Sales, Fiscal Years 2003 through 2013

Amounts in millions of cubic feet

Fiscal year

Amount

offered 

for sale

Amount

sold

Amount

not sold

Percentage 

sold

Actual sales through December 2012

2003 1,640 1,640 0 100

2004 2,100 675 1,425 32

2005 2,100 1,390 710 66

2006 2,100 1,565 535 75

2007 2,100 2,030 70 97

2008 2,100 1,638 462 78

2009 2,100 925 1,175 44

2010 2,100 2,100 0 100

2011 2,100 2,100 0 100

2012 2,100 2,100 0 100

2013 (1st quarter of fiscal year) 525 525 0 100

Subtotal 21,065 16,688 4,377 79

Projected sales

2013 (last three quarters of fiscal

 year)

1,575 1,575 0 100

Total 22,640 18,263 4,377 81

Source: BLM.

Note: At the end of fiscal year 2012, there were 11.44 billion cubic feet of conservation helium in the 

reserve. If BLM sells 2.1 billion cubic feet per year in fiscal years 2013 and 2014, and 0.525 billion 

cubic feet in the first quarter of fiscal year 2015, the amount remaining in storage on January 1, 2015, 

would be 6.72 billion cubic feet.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, there have been a number of changes in the 

market for helium since Congress passed the Helium Privatization Act of 

1996. As the deadline for the required actions to be taken under this act 

approaches, Congress may need to address some unresolved issues 

such as how the helium program will operate once the Helium Fund 

expires at the end of this year, how to set the price for the helium owned 

by the federal government, and how to use the remaining helium in 

storage.

Chairman Hastings, Ranking Member Markey, and Members of the 

Committee, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be pleased to 

answer any questions that you may have at this time.
 

Page 13 GAO-13-351T 

For further information about this testimony, please contact me at (202) 

512-3841 or garciadiazd@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of 

Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page 

of this testimony. In addition, Jeff Malcolm (Assistant Director), Carol 

Bray, Leslie Pollock, and Jeanette Soares made key contributions to this 

testimony.

GAO Contact and 

Staff 

Acknowledgments 

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