While the heated debate surrounding the ethical aspects of using fossil fuels in cryptocurrency mining remains one of the key issues for the industry, an unexpected partnership between a Denver-based mining company and the government of a country in the Middle East Gas-rich environment sets a horizon for a positive role for cryptocurrencies in reducing fossil fuel waste.
On Wednesday, June 1, Bloomberg reported that Crusoe Energy, an operator that reuses energy from wasted fuels for cryptocurrency mining computational power, would begin work in Oman.a nation that exports 21% of its gas production and seeks to reduce gas flaring to zero by 2030.
The American company will open an office in the capital, Muscat, and will install its equipment to capture gas residues in the wells. It has already held a workshop with Oman’s largest energy producers, OQ SAOC and Petroleum Development Oman. The first pilot project will go live later this year or early 2023, according to Crusoe CEO Chase Lochmiller.
The interest of the Oman government in the association is motivated by the objective of reducing the country’s gas flaring, that is, burning excess flammable gas in the extraction process.. Along with Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Oman accounts for 90% of gas flaring in the Arab region, while the region itself accounts for 38% of global flaring. In 2018, according to estimates by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, 10% of all gas consumption in Oman went to gas flaring.
In an official statement, Lochmiller highlighted his company’s mission to establish a presence in the Middle East and North Africa to assist local governments in their fight against flaring:
“What we are looking for is that the countries that are trying to solve the problems of gas flaring get involved.”
In March, the media reported that Exxon Mobil associated with Crusoe to conduct a pilot Bitcoin mining project in North Dakota’s Bakken shale basin. However, this information was not confirmed by the companies.
Cointelegraph has contacted Crusoe Energy for additional information, post will be updated later.
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