Blank Slate Innovation — Natural Gas
How Much Helium-3
Is Hiding in Your Natural Gas?
At just 50 parts per billion, helium-3 in your natural gas stream doubles the economic value of your well. At current market prices exceeding $18 million per kilogram, even trace concentrations represent significant untapped revenue. The problem: almost no one has tested for it.
The Math That Changes Everything
Natural Gas
Approximate value of one MCF (1,000 cubic feet) at the April 2026 Henry Hub benchmark. This is the commodity you sell today.
Helium-3
Conservative value of one MCF of pure He-3 at ~$2,000/liter. Market pricing ranges $1,000–$20,000/L depending on source and subsidy; BSI quotes the conservative midpoint.
How Trace Concentrations Reshape Well Economics
| He-3 Concentration | Added Value per MCF | Well Value Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| 10 ppb | $0.57 | 1.2× |
| 25 ppb | $1.43 | 1.5× |
| 50 ppb | $2.85 | ~2× |
| 100 ppb | $5.70 | ~2.9× |
| 200 ppb | $11.40 | ~4.8× |
Assumes $3/MCF Henry Hub benchmark and $2,000/L He-3. 1 MCF = 28,317 L. Multipliers are incremental on top of existing natural gas revenue.
Pulsar Helium’s Topaz Project — Minnesota
In October 2025, Pulsar Helium publicly reported He-3 concentrations of up to 14.5 ppb at their Jetstream #1 well. The discovery was confirmed by four independent laboratories, including the USGS Noble Gas Lab and Lawrence Livermore National Lab.
At ~$2,500/liter, this He-3 content represents meaningful incremental value on top of an already high-grade 8% helium-4 reservoir. It is among the highest naturally occurring He-3 concentrations ever publicly reported from a terrestrial gas reservoir — comparable to estimated concentrations in lunar regolith, which NASA is spending billions to develop extraction technology for.
The question for every other operator: what’s your number?
Most of America’s Natural Gas Has Never Been Tested for Helium-3
Helium-3 is so valuable that NASA and the US Government are actively funding lunar mining missions to extract it from moon dust at concentrations of 1.4–15 ppb. Meanwhile, >99% of terrestrial natural gas wells that may contain similar or higher concentrations have simply never been tested.
The USGS Federal Helium Program has tested approximately 3,100 gas samples across ~480 reservoirs for helium-4 content. But He-3/He-4 isotope ratio measurements — the data needed to quantify He-3 — have been performed on an extremely small number of these wells. Entire major basins producing billions of cubic feet of natural gas annually have zero He-3 data.
Until recently, there was no practical reason to test: no affordable instrument existed that could separate He-3 from its isobaric neighbors at mass 3. That’s changed.
306 BCF
of recoverable helium exists in known US natural gas reservoirs (USGS, 2021). The He-3 fraction of this helium is almost entirely uncharacterized.
Three Ways to Handle the Helium-3 Question
Path 1
Don’t Test
Continue operating without He-3 data. If your well contains economically significant He-3, it’s being vented, flared, or sold as commodity natural gas at $3/MCF. You’ll never know what you lost.
Path 2
Ship to a Specialty Lab
Collect a sample in a sealed copper tube. Ship it to one of the very few labs in the country capable of He-3/He-4 isotope ratio analysis (e.g., Smart Gas Sciences in Ohio, or queue for time at a federal lab like WHOI or USGS). Wait 4–8+ weeks for results.
Path 3 — BSI
Test With BSI
Send us a gas sample. Our tabletop FT-ICR mass spectrometer resolves He-3 from all interfering species at mass 3 — something no quadrupole RGA can do. We deliver your He-3 concentration with quantitative accuracy down to 0.5 ppb, and we do it faster and cheaper than anyone else.
From Sample to Strategy
1
First Sample Free
Send us a gas sample from your well. We measure your He-3 concentration using our FT-ICR mass spectrometer and return quantitative results in under a week from the time we receive the sample.
2
Economic Analysis
If your He-3 is economically interesting, we provide a detailed analysis: estimated yield per unit production, projected annual value, and breakeven for separation infrastructure.
Complimentary3
Extraction Consultation
If the economics justify it, we consult on He-3 extraction infrastructure: full separation systems, bolt-on manifolds downstream of existing cryogenic processing, or custom engineering for your facility.
4
Ongoing Monitoring
Deploy BSI’s FT-ICR on-site for continuous He-3/He-4 ratio monitoring and QA during extraction. Field-deployable across all of your wells for continued testing.
No purchase obligation. No data-sharing requirement. Your concentration data remains confidential unless you elect to share it.
Why Free, Not $600?
Why Days, Not Weeks?
The Instrument
BSI’s field-deployable FT-ICR mass spectrometer is purpose-built for light isotope separation at masses 3 and 4. FT-ICR resolution scales as B/m, meaning it’s highest at the lowest masses — exactly where He-3 analysis needs it. Our instrument delivers resolving power >10,000 at mass 3.
The Problem It Solves
At mass 3, He-3 (3.0160 Da) and HD (3.0219 Da) are separated by just 0.006 daltons. Standard quadrupole RGAs achieve resolving power of 4–10 at this mass, two orders of magnitude too low. Even specialized high-resolution quadrupoles cannot fully separate these species. FT-ICR can.
Why It’s Cheaper
Traditional He-3 analysis requires magnetic sector mass spectrometers costing $600k–$2M, housed in dedicated labs with cryogenic control, operated by PhD-level specialists. Our FT-ICR is minifridge-sized, modular, and built in-house — which means we can offer analysis at a fraction of the cost and deploy instruments directly at well sites.
| BSI FT-ICR | Hi-Res Quadrupole | Magnetic Sector | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution at mass 3 | >10,000 | ~300–500 | High |
| Separate He-3 from HD? | Yes | No | Yes |
| Instrument cost | $180k | $80–180k | $600k–2M |
| Form factor | Minifridge-sized | Benchtop | Floor-standing lab |
The Helium-3 Market Is Moving. Are You?
Quantum computing demand is surging.
Dilution refrigerators — the cooling systems quantum computers depend on — require He-3. The world’s leading manufacturer, Bluefors, signed a $300M prospective deal with Interlune for lunar He-3 supply. Large-scale quantum computers may require tens of thousands of liters per machine.
The US stockpile won’t last.
The DOE’s He-3 stockpile is roughly 90,000 liters, primarily sourced from tritium decay in aging nuclear warheads. Production is only ~200 liters/year globally. Demand is about to far outstrip supply.
Lunar mining is being funded — seriously.
NASA and the US Government are actively funding helium-3 extraction from lunar regolith, where concentrations average ~4 ppb. Interlune and others have raised hundreds of millions. If He-3 at 4 ppb is worth going to the Moon for, what’s He-3 at 10–50 ppb in your well worth?
Terrestrial sources are the near-term answer.
You don’t need a rocket. You need a mass spectrometer. The He-3 may already be flowing through your infrastructure — you just haven’t measured it.
Questions We Hear From Operators
How do I collect a sample?
What if my He-3 concentration is too low to be economical?
Can you deploy an instrument at my site?
How does He-3 extraction actually work?
Is this real? He-3 from natural gas sounds too good to be true.
Free — One Sample — Under a Week
Find out if your natural gas is hiding the most valuable isotope on Earth.
Submit a sample request below and a BSI engineer will reach out within one business day with sampling instructions and a shipment label.
Sample Request
Reach out for a sample analysis.
Describe the basin, whether you already have a gas sample, and anything important about timing, production conditions, or current helium data.