Tetra4, a subsidiary of Renergen Limited, has commenced commissioning of its Phase 1 liquid helium plant at the Virginia Gas Project in South Africa. First commercial deliveries are expected in September 2026. The timeline is holding, and the global helium market has been waiting for exactly this.
The announcement comes from ASP Isotopes Inc. (NASDAQ: ASPI), the Texas-based company that controls Renergen and operates the project through Tetra4. Phase 1 is designed to produce approximately 2,500 GJ per day of liquefied natural gas and around 70 Mcf per day of liquid helium. Full commercial production is targeted for the second half of 2026. The Virginia Gas Project holds South Africa’s first-ever onshore petroleum production licence: Tetra4 has been producing LNG since September 2022, but it is helium that is now commanding the full attention of investors and industrial customers alike.
The backdrop is one of severe helium scarcity across global markets. Liquid helium is essential for next-generation semiconductors, MRI medical imaging, the aerospace industry, and quantum computing. Advanced nuclear energy and fusion supply chains are also requiring ever-larger volumes. The structural supply shortfall makes every new production facility a concrete development, not an abstract promise. ASP Isotopes estimates annualised revenues exceeding $27 million once Phase 1 is fully operational, assuming an average price of $600 per Mcf of liquid helium and between $15 and $18 per GJ of LNG.
Tetra4 has already secured take-or-pay contracts covering approximately 75% of Phase 1 LNG volumes and 15% of liquid helium output. Negotiations to cover the remaining helium volume are ongoing and are expected to conclude in the third quarter of 2026. Operations had previously been suspended and then restarted in April 2025, after ASP Isotopes extended a bridge loan ahead of completing its acquisition of Renergen. Since then, the project has recorded steady progress across drilling, gas production, and plant preparation.
Immediately following the ramp-up of Phase 1, the company plans to begin construction of Phase 2, targeted for the second half of 2026. The scale is of an entirely different order: roughly 13 times the capacity of Phase 1, with a construction timeline estimated at 44 months. To finance the expansion, ASP Isotopes intends to raise up to $750 million in senior debt, with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and Standard Bank of South Africa each having indicated willingness to consider up to $500 million and $250 million respectively, subject to the execution of definitive binding agreements.
Should Phase 2 proceed on schedule, the Virginia Gas Project would become one of the world’s largest liquid helium suppliers, with direct implications for the supply chain serving advanced nuclear reactors and fusion systems. For ASP Isotopes — which is also developing proprietary isotope separation technologies — helium represents one piece of a broader strategy focused on critical materials for the energy systems of the future.
