Oil and gas operators in the Rockies region are crypto-mining with what would otherwise be flared gas. Here’s how it works and the monetizing-while-greening opportunity from Cully Cavness, president and co-founder of Crusoe Energy.
Crusoe Energy provides oil and gas companies with a fast, low cost and simple solution to natural gas flaring through the company’s patented digital flare mitigation systems.
“Globally, there is more than five trillion cubic feet of gas flared annually,” Cavness said during Hart Energy’s recently held DUG Bakken and Rockies virtual conference. “And if that gas was captured and converted into electricity, it would be approximately enough electricity to power all of the continent of Africa, where more than one billion people live.”
On the other side of the equitation is data centers, according to Cavness who went on to explain that the global data center fleet consumes more electricity than the economy of Germany, which is the largest industrialized economy in Europe.
“Our insight at Crusoe was on one side of this equation is this very energy intensive user that is looking for lower costs and lower environmental impactful ways to source that energy,” he said of Bitcoin. “On the other side is an industry that is wasting a lot of energy and doing so in a very environmentally harmful or at least inefficient way—flaring is certainly not a perfect process.”
What Crusoe developed is a solution the company calls digital flare mitigation. Cavness said essentially Crusoe deploys modular mobile data centers to the oil field along with power generation systems that operate on rich gas, meaning that the gas does not need to be processed before it can come into the generator. It is essentially wellhead gas, he noted.
“What we do is convert the stranded, flare gas into electricity through those rich firm generators,” he said. “Then we use that electricity to power the modular data centers and then we use the data centers we connect to the outside world with anything from wireless internet using microwave towers, satellite internet and in some cases we build our own fiber optic cables.”
Recommended Reading
Solaris Stock Jumps 40% On $200MM Acquisition of Distributed Power Provider
2024-07-11 - With the acquisition of distributed power provider Mobile Energy Rentals, oilfield services player Solaris sees opportunity to grow in industries outside of the oil patch—data centers, in particular.
Quantum’s Wil VanLoh on Turning ESG into E$G
2024-05-21 - Wil VanLoh, founder and CEO of Quantum Energy Partners said private companies need to change their mindset on ESG because they’re building a product to sell to public companies — and may be missing out on cost savings.
Halliburton Sees NAM Activity Rebound in ‘25 After M&A Dust Settles
2024-07-19 - Halliburton said a softer North American market was affected by E&Ps integrating assets from recent M&A as the company continues to see international markets boosting the company’s bottom line.
Riley Permian Increases Stake in West Texas Power JV with Conduit
2024-05-22 - Riley Exploration Permian increased its ownership in RPC Power, a JV with Conduit Power, to 50% from 35% and has agreed to sell up to 10 MMcf/d of natural gas as feedstock supply for the generation facilities as RPC plans to sell to ERCOT.
Liberty Energy Warns of ‘Softer’ E&P Activity to Finish 2024
2024-07-18 - Service company Liberty Energy Inc. upped its EBITDA 12% quarter over quarter but sees signs of slowing drilling activity and completions in the second half of the year.