The virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent crude oil and LNG markets into a tailspin and prices are soaring. It makes international headlines, governments are scrambling, and the International Energy Agency is calling this the “largest supply disruption in history.”

But while the world watches oil, something quieter but with loud global consequence is unfolding alongside. Helium. 

While we think of helium as filling your kid's birthday balloons, the reality is that helium powers MRI machines, enables semiconductor manufacturing, supports nuclear energy and underpins advanced research and defence technologies.

Right now, that supply is breaking. On March 18, an attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial complex caused extensive damage to one of the world’s most important helium hubs. Repairs are expected to take several years. Qatar accounts for roughly one-third of global helium supply, a supply that is now effectively offline and will be significantly curtailed for years to come.

This is not an isolated shock. This marks the fifth global helium shortage in the past two decades. Each one has been driven by the same vulnerability. Not just a small number of producing countries, but a small number of production facilities within them.

We saw shortages in the mid-2000s with U.S. reserve shutdowns. Again, in the early 2010s with outages across the U.S., Algeria, and Qatar. In 2017, when geopolitical tensions disrupted Qatari supply. From 2019 to 2024, when fires and delays at facilities in Algeria and Russia constrained production. 

Now in 2026, disruption at Qatar's Ras Laffan complex combined with shipping constraints through the Strait of Hormuz has pushed the system into another shortage. 

Unlike oil or gas, there is no substitute for helium. You can’t switch fuels or scale alternatives.  When helium is in short supply, critical systems slow down or stop. Hospitals feel it, chip manufacturers feel it, and energy systems feel it.

Despite holding what is estimated to be the fifth-largest helium resource in the world, Canada has no meaningful domestic supply chain. The limited volumes we do produce are shipped to the United States for processing. We have no liquefaction capacity of our own and no strategic reserves.

The reality is, we are entirely dependant on others for a resource we have in abundance.

That reality cuts to a broader issue. As Canada's Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson recently put it, "ultimately, access to your own critical minerals, access to your own energy, is sovereignty."

In a prolonged global shortage, major producers like the United States and Russia are expected to prioritize their own domestic and strategic needs. That is simply how supply security works. This leaves Canada competing for what remains.

The difference this time around is that helium touches sectors we can’t afford to disrupt like health care, quantum computing, clean energy and advanced manufacturing. And yet, this discussion barely registers in the national conversation.

In recognition of supply-chain risks, affordability concerns, and the economic and export opportunity, Canadian end users and policy organizations—together with the Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, where helium resources are located—have called for the development of a strong and resilient domestic helium sector.  These voices range from the Canadian Nuclear Association and the Canadian Association of Radiologists to the C.D. Howe Institute and the Royal Bank of Canada.

Canada needs a domestic helium sector now and the policy path is not complicated.

Treat helium like a strategic resource and align its tax treatment with other critical minerals. Support the development of domestic liquefaction capacity. And build the infrastructure that keeps this supply chain inside our borders.

We have done this before when lithium-from-brine was recognized as strategic three years ago and legislative changes followed.

This moment is not just about resilience at home, it is also about reliability abroad. Canada has an opportunity to become a stable supplier to our allies who are also facing the same supply shock. It is economic opportunity and geopolitical leverage.

The measures could easily be included in the upcoming Spring Economic Statement as a national priority.

While helium does not move markets or headlines the way oil does, it is dangerous to ignore. Canada has the resource, the demand is clear, and the global system is under stress. The question is whether we are prepared to treat helium for what it actually is. Not a novelty, but a strategic asset hiding in plain sight.

Richard Dunn, Executive Director of the Helium Developers Association of Canada.