ConocoPhillips, the oil and gas monster with a revenue of $ 18 billion in fiscal year ending December 31, 2020, entered the bitcoin mining fuel business by supplying a cryptocurrency mine with gas to Baken, a region of North Dakota.
According to CNBC, ConocoPhillips representatives have confirmed that there is an ongoing bitcoin pilot project in the region. Although the company itself is not conducting a BTC mining operation, it is selling gas that would otherwise be burned to Bitcoin miners, owned and operated by a third party.
Oil and gas companies, CNBC reports, have struggled year after year to accidentally hit a natural gas formation while searching for oil. Oil can easily be tracked to a new destination, requiring a pipeline to deliver gas. If a drilling site is next to one, the gas is sold regardless of what the buyer is willing to pay for it. If it stays away, they continue to burn.