# Global helium shortage **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423 "2020-10-20T18:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/81 "2020-10-25T03:33:56Z")
What happened to those schemes from the 1960s, where they were going to extract helium from certain helium-rich natural gas pipelines, and then return the natural gas back to the pipeline? Aren’t there still natural gas wells whose output contains so much helium that the gas won’t burn? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/82 "2020-10-26T05:52:48Z")
For some reason, this story keeps cropping up on You Tube. Maybe this is where it all went. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/n0CT8zrw6lw/hqdefault.jpg "The Doomed Cleveland Balloonfest of '86") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0CT8zrw6lw) ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/83 "2020-10-26T12:05:12Z")
> [@GrassFox](#): > > filled them with whatever nasty gases a kid has inside them. Laughed out loud. Thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423.md?page=4)