Emerging natural gas and helium producer Renergen says its Virginia project, in South Africa’s Free State province, has the potential to be the answer to the world’s helium shortage woes following a recent helium prospective resources report, which confirms that the project has undiscovered gross recoverable helium volumes of more than 344-billion cubic feet (bcf). With the world consuming an average of 80 t of helium a day, Renergen CEO Stefano Marani tells Engineering News that the report has given the company the necessary data to begin planning Phase 2 of the project, “and [the company’s] intention is that Phase 2 will supply enough helium to overcome long-term shortfalls”.