Gazpromneft, an oil subsidiary of Russian natural gas and global energy company Gazprom, is offering bitcoin mining the ability to operate on excess gas for electricity. The Russian company enabled a small mining company to take advantage of the excess gas by mining bitcoin on-site in the oil field.
Russian oil drilling subsidiary Gazpromneft is offering Bitcoin miners the opportunity to use excess gas from oil drilling to mine the leading cryptocurrency, according to several reports.
A small mining operation called Vekus was the first to use Gazpromneft’s excess gas, as were mining operations in North America like Greenidge Generation, Crusoe Energy Systems, EZ Blockchain, and Upstream Data. Regional publication Forklog said Vekus installed a container filled with 150 Antminers and “used 49,500 cubic meters of associated gas and produced 1.8 BTC” during the test pilot.
Vekus CFO Yuri Kudryashov commented on the project, saying:
The lion’s share of mining costs are electricity costs. For this reason, Vekus is constantly looking for reliable power sources. We were happy to respond to Gazpromneft’s suggestion to organize a pilot project in one of the fields.
Gazpromneft supplied the electricity processed from the surplus natural gas and the electricity prices received from Vekus were far cheaper than buying them directly from the electricity grid. According to reports, Vekus also did all of the equipment maintenance and statistics collection. The Russian energy giant plans to invite more Bitcoin miners to the facility so they can benefit from the excess natural gas.
Kudryashov explained that the biggest hurdle for the small-scale mining operation is coordinating with the oil field staff and obtaining the necessary permits to operate.
“The delivery of the devices doesn’t take long. The main part of the work consists of preparing permits, coordinating operations with oilmen, installing equipment and connecting to the field’s power grid, ”Kudryashov said.
The Vekus executive added:
At the same time, you need to solve problems that do not arise in the city: set up the Internet, build a hangar to protect equipment from dust, organize the lives of those involved in the maintenance of the container.
The signs that Bitcoin miners are using excess gas and renewable energy sources to mine the cryptocurrency cement the fact that the Bitcoin mining industry is becoming industrial. Just as Gazpromneft gave miners the ability to use the excess gas to extract bitcoin, New York-based Greenidge Generation offered the same services last year.
The Greenidge operation is different, however, as it is home to its own 7,000 bitcoin miners. In April 2020, the bitcoin mining company “behind the counter” sold 106 Petahash Hashpower to an unknown buyer.
What do you think of Gazpromneft so that Bitcoin miners can benefit from the excess gas from the Russian oil field? Let us know what you think on this matter in the comments section below.
Tags in this story
Bitcoin, Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin miners, Bitcoin mining, BTC mining, Crusoe Energy Systems, excess gas, Gazprom, Gazpromneft, Greenidge generation, miners, mining, oil drilling, renewable energies, Russia, Russia, Russian oil field, Upstream data, Vekus, Yuri Kudryashov
Photo credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Gazpromneft,
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