New Era Helium began construction on its 20,000 MCF/D Pecos Slope natural gas and helium processing plant in July 2023. The company will process gas produced from the Pecos Slope Field, located approximately 20 miles north of Roswell, New Mexico. 

The Pecos Slope Field is the only field in the Permian Basin that has commercial helium concentration levels. Since its discovery by Yates Petroleum in 1977, Pecos Slope has yielded almost 600 Bcf of natural gas while also producing and selling helium. 

The plant is being constructed by Arjae Design Solutions of Nisku, Alberta, Canada. The estimates for the various products that the Pecos Slope plant will produce were developed by Arjae Design Solutions based on Pecos Slope Field Gas Composition samples. A helium sampling audit performed on 303 company-owned wells measured helium concentration levels ranging from 0.167 to 1.513 MOL%. The average helium concentration level was 0.486 MOL%.

The new plant will produce approximately 2.7 million standard cubic feet (MMscf) of gaseous helium per month or, an estimated 32 MMscf per year. The plant will also produce 477,000 MCF/D per month of methane and 32,545 BBLs per month of natural gas liquids. Once operational in Q4 2024, production will represent between 1%-2% of the North American Helium Market.