ExxonMobil is mining Bitcoin with surplus natural gas from North Dakota oil wells. Normally, the waste gas would be flared and burned off. However, cargo containers stuffed with Bitcoin miners are being converted to mine cryptocurrency. The farms are being built in collaboration with Crusoe Energy, a firm founded by the Winklevoss Twins.
Flaring is thought to account for around a quarter of the Co2 emitted by the oil and gas sector. This translates to 281 million tonnes of CO2 each year. Flaring is responsible for around 5% of global gas use. Through the process, around 110 billion cubic metres of water are squandered, which is sufficient to power 72 million households for a year.
ExxonMobil is reportedly aiming to grow its Bitcoin mining operations, according to Bloomberg sources. They can minimize their fines and earn money by mining Bitcoin. The great news is that it could cut CO2 emissions by more than 60%.
Total amount of Bitcoin mined by ExxonMobil
According to the estimated energy use, Bitcoin miners may mine up to 37 BTC per month. Exxon has generated $24,419,445 from mining BTC since January, based on the average energy required to mine 1 BTC.
Flaring wastes 1.1 trillion kWh of energy each year. This is sufficient to mine 18.4 million Bitcoins. A total of 18.9 million were mined as of today. That implies the oil sector wastes energy as that of Bitcoin blockchain ledger in a year.
