US Energy Giant ExxonMobil is Mining Bitcoin With Natural Gas
ExxonMobil is diverting some of the natural gas it has no use for to power cryptocurrency mining operations in North Dakota. The oil and gas behemoth has partnered with Crusoe Energy Systems to convert the gas into mobile generators used for mining operations onsite:
It’s a Win-Win Situation
Launched in January 2021, the joint company is already looking to set up similar operations in Alaska, Nigeria, Argentina, Guyana and Germany, according to Bloomberg. In October last year, Texas led the way in using natural gas flares for mining bitcoin.
The project uses excess natural gas that would have been burned off via the flaring process and is now being put to use to help energy-intensive crypto mining operations find a source of power that would otherwise be wasted. Flared gas will be provided to bitcoin miners at other sites across the globe:
Crusoe Energy Systems is the pioneer of using wasted gas to power bitcoin mining operations and is now taking gas from an oil well pad in the Bakken shale basin of the northern US to power mobile generators used for bitcoin mining operations.
Crusoe Energy is now globally recognised for its “innovative” solution to flaring, which has become standard industry practice due to a lack of transportation infrastructure.
Twitterverse Goes Off in Response
According to ExxonMobil spokeswoman Sarag Nordin, “[We] continuously evaluate emerging technologies aimed at reducing flaring volumes across our operations.” She added that the company’s emissions reduction plan was expected to achieve World Bank Zero Routine Flaring by 2030.
The Twitterverse went crazy when the news was published: