Last Updated: 18 June 2022
Russia’s third largest oil producer is to partner with a bitcoin mining company.
Bitcoin mining at oilfield
This is a partnership between Gazpromneft and BitRiver. Together, they want to mine bitcoin near oil fields. This was stated in a memorandum signed by the two parties at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.
BitRiver will help Gazpromneft set up data centres. The oil producer will use energy here, coming from new oil fields or places where they have not built proper infrastructure. Often, the reason for this is that the energy source is very remote, causing (too) expensive transport costs.
Oil extraction also often produces gas, a by-product that does not always have pipelines.
"Third Largest Russian Oil Company Gazpromneft Partners With BitRiver To Mine Bitcoin"
Gazpromneft, the third-largest oil producer in Russia, is partnering with Swiss-based bitcoin mining company BitRiver to mine bitcoin… (Idelto – https://t.co/oJ92BeFfCV)— Idelto (@IdeltoInfo) June 18, 2022
Bitcoin miners do not suffer from this: they are location-independent.
“BitRiver wants to implement projects in the next two years to create its own data centres for energy-intensive rigs. We want to scale up to a capacity of 2 gigawatts.”
Switzerland-based BitRiver is not a new name in the Russian market. Last April, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on the company.
It was added to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) list. It was accused of “helping to support Putin’s brutal war”.
Market trend
It is starting to become a real trend in both the energy and bitcoin markets. Earlier Exxon Mobil, the largest US oil producer, announced that it would be mining bitcoin. The company wants to further reduce gas flaring.
The also American Crusoe Energy announced that they will be working with flared gas in Oman in the Middle East (where they want to reduce emissions with bitcoin miners).
Contrary to popular belief, bitcoin mining is not so bad for the planet. Previously we wrote about the facts and fables of bitcoin mining.
