More hot-air helium promises from Renergen

Renergen said its liquid natural gas (LNG) will resume following a longer-than-expected maintenance outage. However, the company also announced another delay in its helium production.

In a SENS announcement released this week, Renergen informed shareholders that its LNG deliveries have restarted following delays during its planned maintenance outage.

The company said delays in the maintenance occurred due to unexpected issues with compressors, which led to insurance and contractual claims.

Renergen added that its liquid helium (LHe) system has not yet been integrated into the overall plant.

The company is waiting for the original equipment manufacturer to integrate the LHe system. This team would apparently only arrive at the plant after the Chinese New Year.

This suggests that Renergen has not been producing any helium since it encountered its helium cold box issues back in June 2023.

On face value, the announcement does not seem particularly concerning. However, looking at it in a historical context raises serious concerns about Renergen’s ability to profitably produce liquid helium.

The company has repeatedly promised – and failed – to commercially produce and sell helium at specific dates.

Renergen’s first commitment to commercially produce LHe came in May 2016, when Renergen announced that it signed a major deal with Afrox. This deal would have enabled Afrox to source and supply LHe locally by 2018/19.

Little came of this deal. In 2019, Renergen pushed the deadline forward, saying it would produce 350 kg of LHe per day by 2021. Again, it came to nothing.

In January 2023, Renergen delighted the market by announcing that it had produced its first-ever LHe. Many investors piled into the company’s shares on the news.

However, they were soon disappointed. In its October 2023 interim results, Renergen revealed that it did not record any LHe sales.

Following the release of these results, CEO Stefano Marani explained that the company has not yet produced helium for sale and has only produced helium for their tanks.

Marani said the reason for not selling any helium was that there had been a gas leakage at the helium cold box.

However, the first mention of the leakage was only made in June 2023, giving Renergen six months to produce and sell its helium since the production announcement in January.

In a December 2023 SENS announcement, Renergen said its LHe coldbox had successfully been recommissioned and tested and that 2024 will see stable helium production.

The most recent SENS announcement suggests that no LHe has been produced in 2024 so far. In other words, there has not been any stable helium production as was promised in December.

Renergen has become known for delays and excuses around its LHe production rather than successes. It has yet to convince the market it can profitably produce LHe.

This repeated failure to meet its deadlines has shaken investor confidence in the company and has seen its share price drop by almost a third since the start of the year.

However, following this week’s announcement, Renergen’s share price increased by around 5%, showing that some investors still believe in the Renergen story.

Renergen helium production timeline

Daily Investor compiled Renergen’s claims related to its commercial LHe production over the past eight years.

Promise	Reality
In May 2016, Renergen announced that it signed a major deal with Afrox. It said that this deal will enable Afrox to locally source and supply LHe by 2018/19.	Failed To date, there has been no mention of any LHe sales to Afrox. Afrox also provided no comment to Daily Investor regarding this deal. After publishing an article on the Afrox and Renergen deal, Afrox requested Daily Investor to remove its logo from the cover image.
In August 2019, Renergen said it would be producing 350 kg of LHe per day by 2021.	Failed To date, there has been no proof that Renergen has ever commercially produced any helium.
In January 2023, Renergen said it produced its first LHe at the Virginia Gas Project and that all components of Phase 1 were operational.	Failed Renergen has yet to record revenue from LHe. CEO Stefano Marani said the company has not produced any helium for sale yet due to an LHe coldbox leak. The first mention of the leakage was only made in June 2023, giving Renergen six months to produce and sell their helium since the production announcement.
In October 2023, Renergen said it was on track to commence LHe production before the end of 2023.	Failed In February 2024, Renergen said its LHe system repair is complete but is awaiting final integration and testing.
In December 2023, Renergen said its LHe coldbox had succesfully been recommissioned and tested. Renergen said that 2024 will see stable helium production	Failed In February 2024, Renergen said it suffered delays during its planned maintenance and LHe coldbox repairs.  LHe production remained shut down, and the equipment manufacturers are only expected to integrate the LHe system into the plant after the Chinese New Year – only then will LHe production begin.
In February 2024, Renergen said its LHe system repair is complete following delays but is awaiting final integration and testing.  This should occur after the Chinese New Year – only then will LHe production begin.	TBD