New Mexico

Helium gas has been produced in New Mexico since 1943. Production has been from eight oil and gas fields located on the Four Corners Platform of northwestern New Mexico. Almost 950 MMCF helium have been produced from reservoirs of Permian, Pennsylvanian, Mississippian, and Devonian age on the Four Corners Platform in San Juan County.

In northwest New Mexico, elevated levels of helium in natural gases occur not only in Paleozoic reservoirs on the Four Corners Platform but also in Paleozoic reservoirs in the deeper parts of the San Juan Basin located east of the Four Corners Platform. The regional set of orthogonal faults that offset Precambrian basement throughout the deper parts of the San Juan Basin may have acted as migration pathways that transmitted helium from its basement source into overlying Paleozoic reservoirs.