ConocoPhillips Selling Excess Gas to a Bitcoin Miner in North Dakota

“ConocoPhillips has one bitcoin pilot project currently operating in the Bakken, where gas that would otherwise have been flared is routed to a bitcoin processor owned and managed by a third party,” a ConocoPhillips spokesperson told CoinDesk in an emailed statement.

So-called flaring, where excess natural gas is burned off into the atmosphere as part of oil drilling operations, has become standard industry practice because of the lack of transportation infrastructure. Aiming for the win-win of running their rigs while slashing carbon emissions from flaring, bitcoin miners, including Crusoe Energy and JAI Energy, are setting up shop next to drillers to capture that power. However, it’s not known if either of these companies are involved with this ConocoPhillips project.

“Every oil and gas company in five to 10 years will have some exposure to mining bitcoin,” Ryan Leachman, a founding partner of JAI, told CoinDesk in November.

ConocoPhillips management said on a recent conference call that the company is committed to further reducing its methane emissions and has a “zero routine flaring ambition” by 2025.

In 2019, ConocoPhillips was among the founding members of the OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium, a group of energy companies looking to establish “key blockchain standards, frameworks and capabilities” within the industry.