Media outlets have criticised cryptocurrencies that use a PoW consensus model for validating transactions for more than one year. That’s because crypto mining operations use a lot of electricity to run the heavy-duty servers and cooling units necessary to solve the complex codes fast and first to confirm blockchain transactions, thereby earning crypto as reward for their efforts and investment.

Many climate change watchers assert that all that energy production and use from cryptocurrencies such as , , and Ethererum creates a carbon foot that’s stepping on the environment and crypto’s reputation.

However, a Bloomberg article on Thursday reported that U.S.-based energy company ExxonMobil (NYSE:) has been running a pilot project since January 2021 using excess it produces — and can’t ship — as a source to generate electricity for Bitcoin miners. According to the article, ExxonMobil signed an agreement with Crusoe Energy in order to make use of extra natural gas extracted from North Dakota’s oil wells for powering crypto PoW operations. The beta-test crypto project consumes 18 million cubic feet per month of natural gas. That amounts to less than half a percent of Exxon’s daily production volume in that state.

From ExxonMobil’s perspective, transporting natural gas requires enough pipelines to safely accommodate the total amount of the supply they capture. The problem is, there aren’t enough transport pipelines and this shortage forces energy producers to burn off — or “flare” — the excess gas or vent it directly into the air. That waste hurts both the environment and the producer’s profits.

The crypto miners see electricity from natural gas as producing about half of the carbon dioxide emissions it would take to generate the same amount electric power with coal.

Oil and gas companies face increasing pressure from regulators, investors and other eco-friendly supporters to decrease their carbon footprint in order to lessen the adverse climate impacts. A step towards this goal is the reduction of flared gas waste. Although the fuel remains in use as part this crypto project it has replaced the regular fuel the crypto-mining operation would otherwise have used.

The report states that the project could expand to Alaska and to other countries such as Germany, Guyana or Argentina.

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