FWIW, another facet to the BNL fiasco is that Qatar, the second biggest producer of natural gas, has Helium-rich NG and is developing methods for extracting it from part of their supplies. This is a country which is rich and, like many of its neighbours, is desperate to reduce exposure to petroleum based energy products. So it certainly has the financial and physical resources to produce Helium. Technical & Research expertise can be bought.
