ASP Isotopes said its subsidiary Tetra4 signed its first take-or-pay helium contract tied to the Virginia gas project in South Africa, locking in five years of contracted cash flow for phase 1.
The agreement is with an Asian industrial gases company and is priced at more than $600 per mcf of contained helium. The contract covers about 15% of phase 1’s expected nameplate capacity.
Phase 1 is expected to produce about 2,500 GJ per day of LNG and 70 mcf per day of liquid helium, with commercial production targeted for the third quarter of 2026. ASP said it expects to complete contracting for phase 1 volumes during that same quarter.
The company said it is also in talks with additional customers and expects to begin contracting for a significant portion of phase 2 volumes in the second half of 2026. Phase 2 is expected to be about 13 times larger than phase 1 and is targeted to reach roughly 34,000 GJ per day of LNG and 900 mcf per day of liquid helium.
ASP said construction on phase 2 is expected to start in the second half of 2026, with the project benefiting from conditional approval for up to $750 million of senior debt financing, including up to $500 million from the U.S. DFC and up to $250 million from Standard Bank.
On operations, the company said drilling for phase 1 reached its required cumulative nameplate flow rate in March 2026. Since restarting operations in April 2025, it said the project has advanced across drilling, gas production and plant readiness. Recent drilling results reportedly produced gas flow rates up to 16 times higher than some earlier wells.
ASP said the next step is tying in the new wells to the processing plant over the coming months. Once that work is complete, total flow is expected to meet or exceed phase 1 nameplate capacity. Today the company's shares have moved 1.03% to a price of $7.355. If you want to know more, read the company's complete 8-K report here.
