The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday, Aug. 3, edition that Avanti Helium's Calgary office recently received an unusual inquiry from a prospective customer in the Middle East, a region that typically supplies a significant portion of the world's helium, reaching out to a provider located halfway across the globe. A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe reports that Avanti chief executive officer Chris Bakker says he never thought he'd "be shipping right in their backyard like that." The Iran war has upended helium supplies. Canada has raw resources in the ground to help fill the gap -- but industry players say the government lacks the right policies and incentives for them to develop and sell it. Big Asian players in the chip manufacturing space, such as Taiwan and South Korea, are hugely dependent on Qatari helium, and tend not to keep much in the way of backup supplies. Helium can be produced alongside natural gas, as is the case in Qatar, which accounted for about one-third of global supplies before Iran hit key infrastructure earlier this year. Output has been sharply reduced and it's been estimated it could take three to five years for repairs to be complete.