The venue, located in the Khanty-Mansiysk region of northwestern Siberia, is using the associated gas from its oil field as an energy source and has its own power plant transforming the gas into electricity.
The CO2 that gets freed during the oil drilling is normally a liability for oil companies as they have to burn it into the atmosphere, which results in fines. However, there are ways to utilize it instead of wasting it, and electricity generation is one of them.
In cryptocurrency mining, one of the greatest costs is for the electricity needed to power the mining rigs. By locating mining operations at oil drilling sites where there’s abundant gas to provide virtually free electricity, both miners and the oil companies benefit. By doing this, Gazprom Neft is following the lead of the North American companies Upstream Data and Crusoe Energy Systems that are making use of gas at drilling sites in the U.S. and Canada.
Although Gazprom Neft is not planning to mine for crypto itself, a company spokesperson told CoinDesk it’s ready to open its energy resources to miners and has already piloted a small-scale mining operation with the mining firm Vekus this past autumn.
Gazprom Neft is planning to expand the mining farm and get more clients’ ASICs, as well as more contractors like Vekus. The company did not disclose how big the future farm will be.
Author: Anna Baydakova
