The third largest oil producer in Russia is partnering with BitRiver, who claim to be the "world's largest hosting provider for green cryptocurrency mining." They plan to build the infrastructure needed to utilize Russian natural gas. 

The process is estimated to take two years with intentions to "create its own data centers for power-intensive computing with power scaling up to 2 [gigawatts], including [petroleum gas] which will additionally provide high and stable power consumption," according to BitRiver's CEO Igor Runets.

Remote oil fields that have prohibitively high transportation costs to move the natural gas will have mining infrastructure built on site. New oil fields will also be incorporated into a new plan to mine Bitcoin. 

  • This is a continuing theme in the Natural Gas and Oil space. Exxon Mobile is currently piloting a program to mine Bitcoin using excess flared gas.
  • U.S. companies are not being left in the dust by restrictive U.S. regulations. Crusoe Energy has plans to begin mining abroad in Oman using flared gas and cutting down on emissions as well.
  • A trend to keep an eye on is energy rich countries and leading producers partnering up with Bitcoin miners. The symbiotic relationship seems to be catching on, even with the downturn in BTC/USD price (-46% YTD as of this writing).

Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of the Russian State owned Gazprom, to begin Bitcoin mining in new and remote oil fields

A point of interest is the mention of remote oil fields receiving the infrastructure needed to mine Bitcoin. This suggests that the oil companies understand that this stranded resource can now be monetized and, perhaps, become a very strong asset to add to their balance sheets. While large nation states (examples: United States and Germany) continue to seek green energy and harshly regulate their current energy production, Russia continues to leverage its vast oil fields to strengthen its global economic position. 

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