ConocoPhillips aims to reduce ‘routine flaring’ via Bitcoin mining

ConocoPhillips, one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, is experimenting with Bitcoin (BTC) mining to reduce the wasteful process of flaring.

As per a report by CNBC, the company is now running a pilot project in North Dakota’s oil-rich Bakken region. Instead of wasting excess gas, a byproduct of oil drilling called flaring; the company decides to sell it to a third-party Bitcoin miner who will use it as fuel.

While talking about the environmental consequences of “routine flaring,” a company representative said that the choice to enter into Bitcoin mining reflected the company’s greater goal to reduce and eventually eliminate routine flaring “as soon as possible, no later than 2030.”

ConocoPhillips added that it has an “ongoing focus” on assuring that gas capture programs achieve 0% routine flaring by 2025.

ConocoPhillips testing out bitcoin mining in the Bakken

Good find from @EnergyInfraBro $COP pic.twitter.com/Gk5tRJCbrh

— Collin McLelland 🏴‍☠️ (@FracSlap) September 23, 2021

The Flaring and how ConocoPhillips solves the problem

Bitcoin mining provides a one-of-a-kind and lucrative solution to the issue of routine Flaring, which exists when mining companies drill for oil and unexpectedly strike natural gas formations.

While oil may be siphoned up and collected everywhere, natural gas harvesting necessitates the installation of pipeline infrastructure. Companies are required to burn or “flare” gas if miners strike it at a significant distance from a pipeline, which is an unproductive and environmentally damaging technique.

Rather than letting the gas go to waste, Bitcoin miners deploy shipping containers or trailers carrying crypto mining equipment near an oil well, diverting the gas to generators that power the machinery.

ConocoPhillips has not revealed the name of the Bitcoin miner it has been selling to, nor for how long the experiment would continue.

Efforts to reduce the environmental impact of mining

Last year, Ripple partnered with Nelnet to reduce the environmental impact of crypto mining. The Norway-based crypto miner Kryptovault has decided to dry wood from the waste heat generated by Bitcoin mining.

Crusoe Energy, a US-based oil and gas explorer, has also used Bitcoin mining to reduce emissions profitably, with roughly 60 data centers and Bitcoin mining units fueled by diverted natural gas from their oil fields.