The giant natural gas production company, ConocoPhillips is routing excess natural gas from one of its Bakken region projects in North Dakota to supply the necessary power to a bitcoin (BTC) mining operation.
In Brief:
- ConocoPhillips monetizing and reducing its emissions by fuelling bitcoin mining projects with natural gas.
- The concerned bitcoin mining project is not disclosed and the company claims that it is not the one operating it.
- Instead of flaring the gas, ConocoPhillips is using it to achieve its goal of reducing flaring to zero.
According to a report, the company has a bitcoin pilot project undergoing with a miner, which they claim is owned and managed by a third party, in which the extra gas which otherwise would be flared (gas produced as a byproduct of oil extraction) is supplied to a bitcoin mining operation.
ConocoPhillips also gets paid for the gas that would have otherwise been wasted and flared by selling the extra gas to a third-party Bitcoin miner.
This Serves Two Purposes:
Firstly, Cryptocurrency mining is an energy-intensive undertaking, resulting in high energy consumption, potential environmental impact, and role in driving up power bills consumers.
Excess gas is a low-cost source of energy for bitcoin miners, who require a large amount of computing power and electricity to operate.
Secondly, Oil and gas companies have struggled with the problem of what to do when they accidentally hit a natural gas formation while drilling for oil, and additionally, ConocoPhillips has set a goal of zero flaring of gas.
By this process, ConocoPhillips is monetizing otherwise wasted energy while also reducing its environmental impact, as the process reduces CO2-equivalent emissions by more than 60% when compared to routine flaring, according to a report by Crusoe Energy Systems.
The concept of using bitcoin mining as a solution to gas flaring is not a new one. Energy crisis regarding its consumption, scarcity and prices had already been an issue–which eventually affected the climate hazard, but cryptocurrency mining has added to it and so, quick solutions are researched into.
For example, youth in Kosovo entered into the crypto mining community due to cheap electricity; however, as the country went through an energy crisis, the government banned the activity.
