Poland is the Biggest Helium Producer in Europe: It is a Byproduct of Natural Gas Wells with Low Helium Concentrations

     In a recent article for GeoExPro, Mariël Reitsma explains how Poland is Europe’s biggest helium producer. The EU hopes to get 10% of its helium from member countries by 2030. She estimates that currently, 7-8% of the bloc’s helium comes as a byproduct of natural gas production in Poland. This comes from natural gas fields with low concentrations of helium, averaging about 0.4%. Constraints at the Strait of Hormuz, as well as possible damage to helium plants in Qatar, have severely constrained global helium supplies and caused prices to spike significantly. The EU used to get 40% of its helium from Qatar. Sanctions do not allow it to buy helium from Russia. Algeria and the U.S. now account for the bulk of its helium imports. She explains below why the low concentrations are produced, and the answers involve the necessity of denitrification of the natural gas, which makes helium easier to extract, and the simple need for it in the bloc.

“Poland achieves its high helium output because the country has made it mandatory for operators to evaluate the helium resources of a field if the concentration exceeds 0.2 vol.%. This has resulted in the assessment of 17 gas fields, giving a combined contingent helium volume of 24 Mm3.”

“However, 76% of Polish helium is actually produced from fields containing less than 0.2% helium. The reason is that the Polish national oil and gas company (Orlen) needs to denitrify the natural gas to raise the energy density, and having this process in place means that it is relatively straightforward to simultaneously capture helium.”

“All helium is produced from the Wielkopolska petroleum province in the west of the country. A study assessing a further 30 natural gas fields in the province has established 35 Mm3 in prospective helium resources.”

     She cites a national assessment published in 2025 that identifies helium resources and prospective areas in the country’s natural gas fields. The assessment relied on basement geology in relation to the fields. Helium is generated in basement rocks and migrates up into traps that mainly trap natural gas. The maps below show prospective areas.

     Other potential areas include Eastern Poland, where up to 10% helium has been found in aquifers, the Baltic coast of Germany, and aquifers in France, which tested at 0.33% helium, small but potentially significant.      

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Poland is the only serious helium supplier in the EU, but not because its subsurface is so special: Europe’s Critical Raw Materials Act stipulates that by 2030, 10 % of the EU’s helium consumption should be extracted by the member states themselves. An ambitious goal, given that the European Commission acknowledges that its proven reserves are only 0.2 % of the global proven volume. Mariël Reitsma. GeoExPro. September 14, 2026. Poland is the only serious helium supplier in the EU, but not because its subsurface is so special - GeoExpro

Helium deposits in Poland: exploration, discovery and resource potential in the light of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). Izabela Ługiewicz-Mołas and Katarzyna Rozkosz. Przegląd Geologiczny, vol. 73, no. 3, 2025. PG artykuły 03-2025.indb