Exxon Weighs Taking Gas-to-Bitcoin Pilot to Four Countries

Exxon Mobil is running a pilot program using excess natural gas that would otherwise be burned off from North Dakota oil wells to power cryptocurrency-mining operations and is considering doing the same at other sites around the globe, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: The oil giant has an agreement with Crusoe Energy Systems to take gas from an oil well pad in the Bakken shale basin to power mobile generators used to run Bitcoin mining servers on site, said the people, who asked to not be named because the information isn't public. The pilot project, which launched in January 2021 and expanded in July, uses up 18 million cubic feet of gas per month that would have otherwise been burned off -- or flared -- because there aren't enough pipelines. Exxon, the largest U.S. oil producer, is considering similar pilots in Alaska, the Qua Iboe Terminal in Nigeria, Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale field, Guyana and Germany, one of the people said.

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