Topic: US energy company opens mining facility in Middle East to use stranded natural.. (Read 303 times)

I think is news has two different sides. Opening a new mining facility will be a piece of good news for us to see a new mining facility going to be open soon in the middle east but even if they use the standard natural gas which will produce less co2 compared to the gas they usually consume in the middle east, still they are using fossil energy resources to supply the energy for the miners and this is not good for the environment, but surely that's very much profitable for them because I guess using the natural gas is middle east is going to be cheaper compared to other places.

That is mainly because you are approaching from the wrong side. If you are an energy company that considers mining, that would be the other way around and why spend so much money like that, but if you end up being a mining company, which tries to cover their own energy needs, that would be quite alright, because that is what you will produce, not more and wouldn't really be a business based on selling electricity to anyone, just use your own.

There are literally regular homes that are built with solar panels and tesla powerwalls that generate enough electricity during summer that they can make a profit from it depending on where they are. So, it is not energy company going into mining, it is mining company going into energy that will matter.

This is a good development generally speaking in the sense that something that is wasted can then be used for something valuable...which can mean a win-win for many parties involved. I am seeing a good trend of many people and organizations getting creative with the use of power relative to Bitcoin mining...and it is because even at today's rate in the market it can still be a very profitable venture. We should not always be listening to people who are against Bitcoin based on old facts and bad science because these people don't like the idea behind Bitcoin even if its mining will never be using any kind of power.

I get that using crypto mining for such a deal would definitely work out well enough, but that doesn't mean that we should be expecting all the people who are in energy business to start using mining neither.

I had a friend who works as an engineer in a wind turbine company, they have like 20+ of them all around the same place, not side by side so it is a long distance up in the hills, but they are in the same vicinity of each other. He saw that they could use like some excess amount that’s left, and calculated that the amount of profit you could make using that energy is so small that the whole operation would not be really worth it, because energy companies are making THAT much profit, where bitcoin mining looks nothing at all.

Never seem to be able to find posts from before but this was something had spoken about the last time someone suggested it'd be expensive to mine in Southeast Asia, at least in my location -- hot, humid, and with very expensive corporate prices for electricity.

But on my island (it's a huge one, more like a mini continent) where the refineries are, I saw them myself first time 30 years ago, just chimneys... rows of them just flaring the gas non-stop 24/7. It's still flaring to this day.

So the natural gas is cheap, cheapest form of fuel anywhere in the country, but because there's no pipeline (also small population) other than to East Asia there's still too much. They try to bottle up as much as possible (why we still use cannisters to cook and to run LNG cars) but it's still way too much.

I keep thinking it's an idea to try and stave off the gas to run industries like mining anyway. It's not like that gas is being saved, it's all just been flaring for 3 decades.

solar is not really viable right now.
firstly in general the sun is only out for like 8 good hours a day (i said in general, non specific to any region or latitude or weather condition)
so if a solar panel can produce atleast 1kwh at peak sun, it would require atleast 9 panels to power one 3kw asic 24/7 along with batteries. 3kwh asic x24=72kwh

this is because you need to generate 3kw x 24 in only an 8 hour window (72kwh)
9(1kw panel)*8hours=72
(i said atleast a few times so dont knitpick exact numbers. im trying to keep demo example simple)

however, here is the rub. comparing to just buying electric 'on demand' a solar panel has to be bought up-front, where the cost is then spread out usually over 10 years to become effectively break even/at cost of on demand electric costs... but.. bitcoin hashrate doesnt stay the same for 10 years to only need that same 9 panels to power the same asic for 10 years. to get the same mining reward income to pay off the costs.
hashrate climbs meaning you need to double your asics not every 10 years, (break even period) but every ~6-18 months. meaning its never break even.

...
i say this because the pilot project is not aimed at just dropping a mining microfarm shipping crate next to every 'flare' pipe well and just mining at every well, without doing the research/cost analysis..
its actually to see how much it costs to add a turbine to the pipe. how much that turbine can generate (each pipe emits different levels of gas and different quality of gas, which effects how much it can generate).
and then how much power generation can power how many asics which determines how much coin can be mined, and if that coin can profit enough short term to cover the long term cost of the whole project.
EG if they never breaks even. they wont roll it out to all the other THOUSANDS of wells in the region

..
with that said. im sure the oil company that is flaring gas, can do research on the amount of co2 the flare is emitting and account that as a 'carbon credit' value/loss. and if they can effectively show how they convert that pipe into a utility for some function where it 'captures' instead of emits carbon. they can then get some environmental/government grant to pay for the conversion costs (again needs research and demonstration of process) as well as feasibility and accounting reports, before adopting large scale over thousands of flare pipes

I disagree with you.... if it is simply flared with no use, it will be a waste of energy ....but now that energy is used for something and less electricity is spend that are generated from "dirty" resources. (Eg Coal burning) 

Anything that generated electricity or has the potential to generate energy, without being used... is simply a waste. If you use that energy that would have been wasted, you save the planet. (because you are not using something else to get that electricity) 

I believe that Elon is doing something that would be good in this situation though. He is definitely a clown there is no denying that but we should not just ignore all the good he might do just because he is not a good person. If he could do some solar panel type of stuff which he is known for, he could definitely end up doing something much better with it because it would be green and he would be able to not spend any money at all.

This would be profiting you a lot and it would end up with a great business for him. Obviously he would need to work towards getting too many machines, because he has the solar power but he doesn't have the asic miners.

to clarify.. this is a pilot project at ONE well site using flared gas. its not a massive project. and its not all dreamy hype. its a small facility.

the 'flared' gas is flared for a reason. its not good quality gas and the cost to try to 'pipe' it into the network is expensive. so thats why its never used commercially before. so dont expect big things from this.

its more like deliver a shipping container of asics to the well so that they can mine at the well site. thus save on having to pipe the gas off-site to a central mining farm connected to many wells.

it will be more like lots of micro farms(shipping containers) dotted across the land which then connect to a pool. rather than a large mining warehouse facility getting energy from the grid.

its a novel approach. but as the article says, its a pilot project to see if it can work and see what can be generated to see how cost feasible it is to replicate at each well site.

..
the optional way of viewing this is .. instead of a pipe sticking out of the ground with a flame bursting out the top and smoke billowing above it. instead at the top of the pipe will be an engine that turns a turbine. and that produces electric which powers asics. and this then affords the company to then put filters and exhausts on the outlet so that there is little/no smoke coming out at the end.

this is not to give oil companies a large BTC investment to hoard and profit from long term from running large mining farms. its more to do with mining small amounts using small micro farms per well-site. to cover the cost of the exhaust filtration.

yep the reason they dont put an exhaust and filter system on the top of a flare pipe before is cost. and its too costly to pipe the gas out of the area to the gas network. so by earning money onsite. then pays for the equipment needed onsite to clean the fumes from the burning of gas

It looks like the oil crisis around US and other western nations could've led to this. US and Middle East Countries always have a good relation. Maybe if there isn't any problem for natural gas, then the energy company would've opened its operation in USA. More Energy Companies are finding way to make use of the stranded natural gas for mining purpose. Another one is the Kenyan Energy Company inviting investors from USA and UK to setup mining farms that can be run out of the excess energy generated.

There's probably no other competition among Bitcoin miners except the one in which miners are competing against each other in solving the problem. So that's only computation competition. I don't think there is this level of competition in their business operations.

Even though other mining farms are not using stranded gas supply, it could still be possible that their energy cost is not really that more expensive compared to excess energy sources. Energy blocks could be accessed in negotiated prices.

This story is about two things which is mentioned in the line:

US energy company opens crypto mining facility in Middle East to use stranded natural gas

Energy companies turning to Bitcoin mining - will this mean they out compete other
miners for the fact their energy costs will be potentially lower?

Stranded Natural Gas - using gas which would otherwise be flared off has to be welcomed,
it means more efficiency and
that has to be welcomed

Well millions and millions of cars, generators, other commutes are running on the oil that is escalated from the earth crust, how do we supposed to expect the oil companies even bother about environmentalist. They would keep doing what they are doing because the whole process is shown as regulated, being done with proper documentation and every aspect of mining also checked properly. Definitely it's all about the money and we know very well its dangerous for earth anyways.

Now, the fact that bitcoin mining needs to be greener is little off the frame. I mean it's funny no one is talking about 100% use of electric cars whose being charged on naturally produced energy, but they do talk about bitcoin mining because out of no where it's the reason for green house effect.

Its odd, really odd.

If emphasize the word "NATURAL" it would sound eco-friendly.

Bitcoin Mining company using gas isn't illegal so it will be okay, but they shouldn't also mind if  the rest of the oil companies that has extra energy to waste will also build their mining farms.

The need to make money will make oi and gas companies to do the same and then they can use the heat produced by the mining device to heat houses. I have read someone did this already heating up his swimming pool as well.

1.Natural gas is more eco-friendly than oil.
2.What the hell are you talking about? Gas flaring has nothing to do with Europe, because Europe doesn't have big gas production. This technology can applied only in the countries, that are extracting lots of natural gas.


Heating homes in Oman seems like a weird idea, because the weather in Oman isn't that cold.
Anyway, I don't mind this technology, but I don't know about the exact price of the energy, that is going to be produced by utilizing wasted gas.
Is it going to be cheap enough to make crypto mining profitable in Oman? Oman is a country with pretty high temperatures, wouldn't the crypto mining facilities require lots of cooling(which will eventually make the mining process expensive and ineffective)?

Oh and it has an additional benefit too, even though it's not green mining: It strengthens the BTC blockchain (only) by bringing oil companies into it as miners.

It's well known that oil companies do not buckle under the pressure of environmental activists. This is inherently a bad thing but if they help Bitcoin fence off the massive torrent of slander against it [starting with "Oh look the price fell 50% again, Bitcoin is finished"] then it should be welcomed.

Are the fuel prices in America also affecting the electricity prices in many areas of the country? I reckon for bitcoin miners and energy companies that want to provide electricity for bitcoin miners, it will certainly be cheaper to move out of America and bring their farms somewhere with a government that will be more accomodating and where there are cheaper sources of electricity.

The Biden administration might begin to make profitability very difficult for miners in America.



The Biden administration is teeing up policy recommendations to lower cryptocurrency mining’s energy consumption and emissions footprint, marking its first major foray into a poorly understood industry that critics say threatens U.S. climate goals and strains the power grid.

“It’s important, if this is going to be part of our financial system in any meaningful way, that it’s developed responsibly and minimizes total emissions,” Costa Samaras, principal assistant director for energy for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told Bloomberg Law.

“When we think about digital assets, it has to be a climate and energy conversation,” Samaras said.

The report, expected in August, could be one of the first studies following President Joe Biden’s executive order in March pressing federal agencies to ensure the “responsible” mining of digital assets such as cryptocurrency.

Source https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/crypto-miners-energy-climate-costs-draw-white-house-scrutiny

I don't understand how using natural gas is eco-friendly, even if the way it will be used is better than other methods. Also, I would not be against this idea under normal circumstances, but not right now. Right now, Europe is paying lots of money to Russia because of heavily relying on its gas. This money sponsors a terrible war. So if there's some gas that can be used for mining, couldn't it be used for heating? Couldn't it help reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas? If not, then it's fine, but if it could be, I think heating homes, so that people don't freeze to death, is the first priority, and crypto mining can use something other than gas.

Elon Musk is a clawn, how is Tesla so important that he did not want to accept bitcoin, bitcoin did not depend on a single person or a single country. Tesla do not have to accept bitcoin after Elon Musk propaganda to accept doge.

Yes, that is true, miners are going towards green energy, leaving the other industries to their carbon producing energies. Solar is not the only green energy. Energy derived from wind, nuclear and renewable energies like well constructed hydroelectric power plant are all green energy.

It seems like a long overdue use of these excess gases released while extracting oil. Just imagine all those flare stacks that you used to see happening all over the middle east, vast amount of natural gas just being burned off at the source and going to waste. It's good that it'll be used up and it can contribute massive amounts of free energy to this sort of cryptocurrency mining project, I wonder what happens when the oil wells are finally tapped or what sort of timeframe they last. Then again, you could always make these crypto mining operations somewhat mobile - it just needs that internet connectivity which might be cheap enough to source.