AetherGas operates a vertically integrated model from reservoir to customer burner-tip or export port, capturing value at three stacked layers: upstream resource rent (low-cost, helium-rich gas), midstream conversion margin (liquefaction and purification) and downstream service margin (logistics, refuelling, energy solutions). Integration is bankability, not ideology: lenders finance the midstream against contracted throughput while equity captures upstream and downstream optionality.
Product lines
- Aether LNG — wellhead-liquefied gas delivered by cryogenic tanker to industrial regas skids or fleet stations, under 2–7 year diesel-indexed supply agreements with collars that share savings while protecting margin.
- Aether Helium — 99.999% liquid helium in 40-ft cryogenic ISO containers for export, and gaseous tube trailers for domestic customers, contracted principally to global majors under floor-and-escalator structures with a reserved spot tranche.
- Aether Mobility — an LNG fuelling network for heavy road transport on the N1/N3/N12 corridors, with dual-fuel conversion financing and per-kilometre supply agreements.
- Aether Industrial Energy — turnkey energy-substitution for mining and manufacturing, audits, conversion engineering, storage, regas and take-or-pay supply, a solution sale that deepens switching costs.
- Aether Export Logistics — cryogenic logistics as a service: the ISO-container helium cold chain, LNG trailer fleet management and third-party haulage sold to peers, converting a cost centre into a margin stream.
Unit economics of the integrated molecule
Every 1 mmscf of raw feed gas at design conditions yields approximately 19–20 tonnes of LNG and 25–30 mcf of crude helium at ~3% concentration. At FY2031 modelled realisations this generates roughly R310,000 of LNG revenue and R190,000 of helium revenue per mmscf, with the helium stream carrying an incremental cash margin above 70% once the cold box is sunk. This is the arithmetic core of the case: helium transforms a solid mid-teens-IRR gas project into a potential top-quartile energy investment.
