The third-largest oil company in the US is reportedly generating additional income in the Bitcoin (BTC) economy.
reports that the Texas-based ConocoPhillips launched a Bitcoin pilot project in North Dakota’s oil-rich Bakken region selling to crypto miners the flare gas that it would have otherwise burned.
Oil and gas companies burn excess gas in a process known as flaring and suffer more than revenue losses as a result. The practice also produces emissions that are dangerous to the environment and exacerbate global warming.
Denver-based Crusoe Energy Systems, one of the companies that use flare gas to power crypto mining operations, that compared with continued flaring, converting excess gas into electricity reduces carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions by about 63%.
ConocoPhillips’s initiative comes following an earnings call on February 3 where the management reiterated that it is committed to reducing the company’s methane emission and achieving zero routine flaring by 2025.
“We’ve allocated $0.2 billion of this year’s capital program for projects to reduce the company’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity and investments in several early-stage, low-carbon opportunities that address end-use emissions.
We strongly believe that this level of focus on and performance toward fully realizing our triple mandate has ConocoPhillips very well-positioned to not just survive through the energy transition, but to thrive regardless of the pathways it takes.”
