The American oil company ConocoPhillips is selling associated gas at the Bakken field in North Dakota to Bitcoin miners, CNBC reports.
The company is running a pilot project to use associated gas for cryptocurrency mining. The mining operations are handled by an unnamed partner; ConocoPhillips supplies the gas that would otherwise be burned off in a flare.
The firm previously set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. ConocoPhillips plans to address the flaring of associated gas by 2025.
One of the startups involved in Bitcoin mining powered by associated gas in the Bakken formation area is Crusoe Energy Systems. It installs mobile modular data centers next to an oil well. The associated gas is directed to generators to convert it into electricity that powers the cryptocurrency mining facilities.
Crusoe estimates that, by avoiding direct gas flaring, the technology reduces emissions by 63% in CO2e.
ConocoPhillips did not disclose when the mining pilot began. However, in a 2021 presentation the company demonstrated a solution for capturing associated gas, presumably for cryptocurrency mining.
ConocoPhillips testing out bitcoin mining in the Bakken
Good find from @EnergyInfraBro $COP pic.twitter.com/Gk5tRJCbrh
— Collin McLelland 🏴☠️ (@FracSlap) September 23, 2021
Earlier, Crusoe provided its technology to another Bakken-area oil and gas company — Norwegian Equinor Energy.
Two 23-year-old Texans earned $4 million mining Bitcoin with associated gas at fields in eastern Texas.