Exxon is mining bitcoin in North Dakota as part of its plan to slash emissions

Exxon is mining bitcoin in North Dakota as part of its plan to slash emissions

, the top oil and gas producer in the U.S., is piloting a project to mine in North Dakota, according to people with knowledge of the matter. For over a year, Exxon has been working with Crusoe Energy Systems, a company based in Denver, said the people who asked not to be named because details of the project are confidential. Crusoe's technology helps oil companies turn wasted energy, or flare gas, into a useful resource. Similar to ' region, Exxon is diverting natural gas that would otherwise be burned off into generators, which convert the gas into electricity used to power shipping containers full of thousands of bitcoin miners. Exxon launched the pilot in late January 2021 and expanded its buildout in July. While Exxon hasn't talked publicly about its work in the space, Eric Obrock, a 10-year veteran at the company, said on his LinkedIn profile that from February 2019 to January 2022, he "proposed and led the first successful commercial and technical demonstration of using Bitcoin Proof-of-Work mining as a viable alternative to natural gas flaring in the oil patch." Obrock's title on his profile is NGL industry outlook advisor, referring to the natural gas liquids market. Obrock