5 hours ago
Could Marathon Digital Holdings beryllium successful exploratory talks with Exxon Mobil and Saudi Aramco to colocate Bitcoin mining units astatine oilfields, straight tapping flare-gas for power?
Crypto Twitter thinks it’s possible, and if confirmed, the concern could turbocharge the standard and legitimacy of gas-to-Bitcoin operations, turning discarded methane into a monetized integer plus portion addressing ESG concerns.
Marathon banal pumper Cryptoklepto thinks, “It is much apt than not that astatine slightest 1 of these scenarios plays retired successful the adjacent 6 to 12 months for $MARA.”
While nary of the companies person formally announced a deal, Marathon CEO Fred Thiel hinted astatine “discussions with immoderate of the largest vigor companies successful the world” connected May’s net call, adding that “chunks of flare-gas generation” volition soon travel online wherever we’re capable to deploy our Bitcoin mining operations.
The timing aligns with Aramco’s May 2025 announcement of 34 caller MoUs with U.S. firms and follows Exxon’s earlier aviator with Crusoe Energy successful North Dakota.
Pilot-Proven, Ready to Scale
Marathon isn’t starting from scratch. In precocious 2024, it launched a 25-megawatt aviator successful Texas utilizing stranded shale gas, avoiding grid contention portion qualifying for methane abatement credits. “The AI guys are prepared to wage astir immoderate terms for energy,” Thiel told Reuters. “Bringing crypto-mining to the earthy powerfulness proviso lets america debar that fight.”
The company’s mobile, plug-and-play infrastructure is tailor-made for oilfields. These portable modules person different flared methane into electricity, which is past utilized to excavation Bitcoin, a process that Exxon and Crusoe demonstrated astatine standard by diverting 18 cardinal cubic feet of state per period and cutting CO₂-equivalent emissions by up to 63%.
Saudi Aramco has antecedently denied immoderate volition to excavation Bitcoin. In 2021, the institution labeled specified reports “false and inaccurate.”
However, Marathon’s Thiel precocious claimed the steadfast has 4–5 gigawatts of excess capacity, a standard that could powerfulness tens of thousands of mining rigs. If adjacent a tiny information were redirected, it would surpass the full output of galore standalone crypto facilities.
Exxon, meanwhile, has the organization representation and information from its two-year Crusoe pilot, which could marque fast-tracking a caller task with Marathon little speculative than it seems.
Why Now? A Confluence of Pressure and Opportunity
Behind the scenes, regulatory momentum is building. A U.S. methane emissions interest nether the Inflation Reduction Act kicks successful this year, pushing lipid producers to find ways to trim oregon monetize their emissions. Flare-gas mining offers a low-capex, high-upside way to compliance, peculiarly erstwhile paired with c offset markets.
Further, bills person been approved successful Texas specifically to promote Bitcoin mining utilizing flare gas.
At the aforesaid time, Bitcoin miners are grappling with compressed margins pursuing the April 2025 halving. Marathon, 1 of the industry’s largest listed players, produced 950 BTC successful May but indispensable present aggressively prosecute sub-$0.03/kWh vigor sources to stay competitive. Flare-gas, erstwhile a fringe vigor input, could go a post-halving lifeline.
Skepticism remains warranted. No SEC filings, nationalist agreements, oregon authoritative comments corroborate the Exxon oregon Aramco partnerships. Given Aramco’s past denial, immoderate displacement successful stance would apt impact months of permitting, infrastructure build-out, and reputational calculus.
If lipid majors greenlight Bitcoin mining astatine the wellhead, the flare-gas speech volition displacement from “can it work?” to “how accelerated tin it scale?” Marathon, with its turnkey modules and Wall Street footprint, whitethorn beryllium archetypal successful line.
What to Watch
- Public filings oregon MoUs from Exxon, Aramco, oregon Marathon confirming aviator collaborations.
- Energy regulator responses to flare-gas mining amid the methane interest rollout.
- Q3 accumulation updates: Marathon’s vigor costs and BTC output per site.
- Community pushback astir sound and emissions from Marathon’s Texas flare site.
“You’re going to find is simply a premix of thermal, a premix of wind, star and immoderate flare gas. It truly depends connected the marketplace and the partner.
We’re successful discussions with immoderate of the largest vigor companies successful the satellite that person a premix of each those vigor sources and nuclear.
In regards to flare gas, determination are a batch of state assets astir the satellite that are precise applicable to this method…
And what I deliberation you’ll spot america doing much and much successful the aboriginal is arsenic we proceed to enactment with particularly lipid and state producers, you’ll spot chunks of this flare state benignant procreation travel online successful antithetic parts of the satellite wherever we’re capable to deploy our Bitcoin mining operations, arsenic a mode to monetize that stranded gas. And we are ace excited astir those opportunities.”
—Fred Thiel, Marathon CEO
This communicative is developing. CryptoSlate volition update arsenic much details emerge.
The station Could Marathon beryllium readying to squad with Exxon oregon Aramco connected flare state Bitcoin mining? appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.
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