According to a recent Bloomberg report International oil and gas giant ExxonMobil has launched a pilot program that will use excess natural gas to mine cryptocurrencies. This will be powered by excess natural gas from oil wells in North Dakota.
ExxonMobil to mine Bitcoin
ExxonMobil has reportedly reached an agreement with Crusoe Energy Systems Inc., a company that provides natural gas flaring solutions. This is to extract gas from an oil well in North Dakota to supply power to crypto mining hardware. This allows them to mine Bitcoin Ethereum tokens.
Gas flaring is the burning of natural gas that is released during the extraction of oil. Rather than simply burn it, ExxonMobil will reportedly use it to power Bitcoin mining machines.
Bloomberg reports that sources have asked not to be named because the information is not yet public. Perhaps even better news is that the company is also considering launching similar pilot programs in Alaska, Nigeria, Argentina, Guyana and Germany.
“We are constantly evaluating emerging technologies aimed at reducing the flaring of our operations,” ExxonMobile spokesperson Sarah Nordin reportedly told Bloomberg.
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The impact on the environment is huge
Cryptocurrency mining, especially Bitcoin mining, has been the subject of controversy over the past year. This is because it has a lot of negative impact on the environment.
According to Cambridge University, the Bitcoin network consumes a whopping 134 terawatt hours of electricity per year. It also appears that the network now consumes even more power than many countries do.
In September 2020, Cambridge University found that only 39% of the Bitcoin network was running on renewable energy, such as wind or solar. The rest of the network was powered by environmentally harmful fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.
However, other studies claim that the Bitcoin network runs on a higher share of renewable energy. One such study was published by the Bitcoin Mining Council, which in July 2021 claimed that 56% of the electricity behind Bitcoin came from renewable sources.
ExxonMobil’s move could help make Bitcoin mining a lot more sustainable.