Global oil and gas heavyweight ConocoPhilips is reportedly going to establish its presence across the Bitcoin (BTC) mining scene, in a bid to remove the wasteful practice of flaring.

Specifically, per an NCBC report, the firm is reportedly running a pilot scheme in the oil-rich region of Bakken, North Dakota. 

Rather than burning excess gas – a byproduct of oil-drilling generally referred to as flaring – the firm is reportedly selling to a third party Bitcoin miner to be used as fuel.

In terms of the possible effects on the environment regarding “routine flaring”, a spokesperson from the company reportedly claimed that the initiative to set foot into Bitcoin mining is a reflection of the firm’s overarching target of bringing down and “ultimately eliminating routine flaring as soon as possible, no later than 2030.”

A slide from a ConocoPhillips presentation last year, the firm reportedly revealed that it has an “ongoing focus” on making sure that gas capture initiatives successfully obtain the zero routine status by 2025. 

Bitcoin mining reportedly provides a one-of-a-kind and profitable measure to solve the issues of routine flaring, which happens when mining firms hit natural gas formations while drilling for oil by accident. 

While oil can reportedly be extracted without restrictions in terms of location, natural gas harvesting can only be done using pipeline infrastructure. Should miners strike gas at any significant distance from a pipeline, firms will have to burn or “flare” the gas, which is in the long run procedure that causes financial hemorrhage and bad impacts to the environment.

Rather than letting the gas go to waste, Bitcoin miners reportedly put shipping containers or trailers, filled with crypto mining equipment, in place near an oil well and divert the gas into generators which help operate the equipment.