Updip advantage in the Rukwa Basin
It all started when two geologists who were exploring for gold read an article in the local paper about helium seeps in the Rukwa Valley. They decided to make a detour and check it out for themselves. The men saw…
New Gas
MAX Power’s hydrogen appraisal campaign
In December 2025 MAX Power drilled its first well targeting the Lawson structure, a Precambrian basement high draped by Cambrian clastics. Similar “buried hill” plays elsewhere in Saskatchewan and neighbouring Alberta and Montana, are known helium reservoirs. Lawson-1 recorded hydrogen…
Poland is the only serious helium supplier in the EU, but not because its subsurface is so special
The European Union has marked 34 substances as ‘critical raw materials’. Helium is among them due to its significant industrial importance and the high chances of supply chain disruption. Those supply vulnerabilities are currently more acute than ever; 40% of…
Exploring deep-seated hydrogen fluxes in Nova Scotia
QIMC’s hydrogen exploration campaign focuses on the Cobequid-Chedabucto fault system in Nova Scotia, a crustal-scale fault zone approximately 250 km long and 25 km wide that separates two ancient tectonic landmasses: The Avalon Terrane to the north and the Meguma…
Is helium the bonus or the business?
Gold Hydrogen started exploration on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia on the back of a legacy hydrocarbon well. They had a clear lead on hydrogen, but they also found exceptionally high helium concentrations. An independent commercial assessment now indicates…
Revival of South Africa’s first commercial Helium project
These observations prompted Renergen to apply for a natural gas exploration permit across Welkom, Virginia and Theunissen in Free State, South Africa. They soon discovered that apart from methane, the gas also contained high concentrations of helium, an opportunity that…
Deep hydrogen in Lorraine: An appraisal well or a science project?
Following the discovery in 2023 of hydrogen in Folschviller-1A, a coalbed methane test-well analysed by La Française de l’Energie (FDE), Lorraine’s hydrogen potential made headlines again in March this year with the drilling by FDE of a dedicated and much…
A helium prospect without a trap
After the initial hype of helium exploration in the Rukwa basin in Tanzania, things went quiet for 18 months. This is partially because Helium One’s exploration permit expired, and they had to apply and wait for a mining licence for…
Until now, hydrogen exploration wells were drilled half-blind
There is often an element of coincidence associated with how companies form. That also applies to how Viacheslav Zgonnik and Jonathan Allard from French tech start-up HyReveal came together two years ago. While Viacheslav was drilling the first dedicated hydrogen…
Western Pyrenees foothills – the hotspot for natural hydrogen
The growing interest in hydrogen within the context of the energy transition has recently led to renewed scientific attention, resulting in the identification of numerous natural occurrences across a wide range of geological settings. Academic studies have significantly improved the…
Too early to declare a commercial success
Australia’s Gold Hydrogen was one of the earliest movers in the hunt for natural hydrogen: taking up acreage in South Australia, raising funds and drilling a number of exploration wells. Its two earliest wells, Ramsay-1 and -2 drilled in late…
Omani research well burping hydrogen
Professor Alexis Templeton in conversation at the 2025 H-NAT Summit. Photo: H-NAT Summit. When Professor Alexis Templeton from the University of Colorado conducted a techno-economic analysis on stimulated hydrogen, the results suggested that generating profitable volumes of gas is nearly…