Lets keep the PARTY GOING, DRILL for more HELIUM

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

Party City closing 45 stores amid global helium shortage

(WPXI/CNN) - It could get more difficult to throw a party with helium balloons.

Party City, New Jersey based company, has announced plans to close 45 locations amid a global helium shortage.

The party supplies store did not say which stores would be affected, only that the closings would happen throughout the year.

There are currently 870 Party City stores in the U.S. and Canada.

CEO James Harrison said in a statement that the closings would help them “focus on the most profitable locations” among other things.

Harrison said that Party City closes 10 to 15 stores each year, according to USA TODAY.

Party City also said that it is working to get a new helium source and contract, the paper reported.

[esgeo + 54]

Wish in one hand...

According to what are likely the best minds on the subject, Party City (i.e.,  the use of He for totally superfluous purposes) really should not be driving He demand. 

https://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/201107/jaffe.cfm

(4) Market Interventions

With the exception of helium, the APS/MSR report does not advocate government interventions in markets beyond those implicit in the other recommendations concerning R&D, information gathering and analysis, and recycling. In particular, the report does not recommend non-defense-related economic stockpiles, as such stockpiles have had unintended disruptive effects on markets [2,7]. Industrial users of ECEs are best able to evaluate the supply risks they face and purchase their own “insurance” against supply disruptions caused by either physical unavailability or price fluctuations.

The single exception to this recommendation concerns helium, which is unique even among ECEs because it is permanently lost to the atmosphere if not captured during natural gas extraction. Helium is critical for current energy R&D and it is anticipated that it will be increasingly in demand in the future for technologies not yet developed. The report recommends that measures should be adopted to conserve and enhance the nation’s helium reserves.