Starting with North Dakota, ExxonMobil plans to extend the use of excess natural gas for Bitcoin mining to other sites.
Reportedly, multinational oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) has started a pilot program that focuses on using excess natural gas to power Bitcoin mining operations. Citing familiar sources, Bloomberg reported that the gas, if not used, will be burned off or flared due to lack of pipelines. There is a need for pipelines in the transportation of natural gas. Many times, these pipelines can not efficiently accommodate the amount of gas produced. In such cases, many companies do not have other options but burn off excess gas to third-party Bitcoin miners or vent it into the air.
Currently, at pre-market trading, ExxonMobil is down 0.70% to $82.80. The company has been performing excellently over time, surging more than 48% in a year. It also gained 36.26% since the beginning of 2022 and climbed nearly 37% in the last three months. Over the past month, XOM has increased 10% and pumped 5.57% in the last five days.
ExxonMobil Is Running Pilot Program that Uses Excess Gas for Bitcoin Mining
Starting with North Dakota, ExxonMobil plans to extend the use of excess natural gas for Bitcoin mining to other sites. Some of the other sites the oil and gas company considers include Nigeria, Germany, Argentina, and Guyana.
According to the report, ExxonMobil entered into a deal with Crusoe Energy on the use of excess gas. The pilot program entails the use of 18 million cubic feet of natural gas on a monthly basis. This equates to about 0.4% of Exxon’s operations in North Dakota. Based on reports, the natural gas that the oil giant produces daily is about 158 million cubic feet.
ExxonMobil rolled out the pilot program in January last year and now plans to launch a similar one in Alaska. Daniel Fugere, the president of the environmental shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, commented on the development. She said the process is finding a use for “what would be otherwise wasted.”
Oil and gas manufacturers received continuous pressure from regulators concerning their carbon footprint. Regulators and investors also request that the producers reduce their carbon footprint to help tackle climate change. Due to these concerns, the International Energy Agency (IEA) unveiled a guide that aims at making the world net-zero by 2050. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil’s spokesperson Sarah Nordin refused to comment on “rumors and speculations regarding the pilot project.” She added that the leading oil company continuously works on “emerging technologies” suitable for reducing flaring volumes across our operations.
ExxonMobil’s passing excessive gas to Bitcoin miners came after another oil giant ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), announced a similar project. ConocoPhillips revealed that its program is about selling excess natural gas from one of its North Dakota projects in the Bakken region to power Bitcoin mining operations.
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