US energy company opens crypto mining facility in the Middle East to use stranded natural gas

As the heated debate over the ethical aspects of using fossil fuels in crypto mining continues to be one of the hottest topics for the industry, an unexpected partnership between a Denver-based mining company and the government of a gas-rich Middle Eastern country opens up horizons. for a positive role for crypto in reducing fossil fuel waste.

On Wednesday, June 1, Bloomberg reported that Crusoe Energy, an operator that reuses wasted fuel energy for crypto mining computing power, would begin work in Oman, a country that exports 21% of its gas production and aims to end gas flaring by 2030. †

The American company opens an office in the capital Muscat and installs its equipment for collecting gas waste at well sites. It already held a workshop with Oman’s largest energy producers, OQ SAOC and Petroleum Development Oman. According to Crusoe’s CEO Chase Lochmiller, the first pilot project will start at the end of this year or early 2023.

Oman’s government interests in the partnership are driven by a goal to reduce gas flaring in the country – burning the excess flammable gas during the extraction process. Together with Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Oman is responsible for 90% of the flaring in the Arab region, while the region itself accounts for 38% of global flaring. According to estimates by the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia, 10% of all gas consumption in Oman went to flaring in 2018.

Related: Go Green or Die? Bitcoin miners aim for carbon neutrality by mining near data centers

In an official statement, Lochmiller emphasized his company’s mission to have a presence in the Middle East and North Africa to assist local governments in their fight against flaring:

“Having the buy-in from countries actively trying to solve the flare-up is what we’re looking for.”

In March, the media reported that Exxon Mobil partnered with Crusoe to conduct a pilot project of Bitcoin mining in the Bakken Shale Basin in North Dakota. However, this information was not confirmed by the companies.

CoinTelegraph contacted Crusoe Energy for additional information, the message will be updated at a later date.