MIDLAND, Texas — On Wednesday the Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance, or MOTRAN, dipped its feet into how cryptocurrency, specifically bitcoin mining, could be a bigger part of the Permian Basin's economy and oil and gas industry.
Flaring burns off excess gas and isn't used for much, but engineers want to utilize it to mine bitcoin.
"Instead of sending gas to a flare, send it to an engine to create electricity which we can then mine bitcoin from. So it's a real opportunity to reduce emissions in the oil field," said Kat Galloway, CEO for Artemis Energy.
Using natural gas from what would be burned can power machines and servers that mine bitcoin.
"Bitcoin needs energy right? Bitcoin, we need to find the cheapest energy that we can, the oil field has emissions and they want to get rid of those emissions, so we work together and I really see that bitcoin mining and the oilfield are working together because they're solving each others problems," said Galloway.
This makes the Permian Basin a good fit to set up huts for Bitcoin mining.
"There's a lot of flaring, there is a lot of gas here, really there's the entrepreneurship mindset here in Midland so everyone is really excited about the opportunities." said Galloway.
There are a lot of opportunities with bitcoin becoming more and more valuable.
"Where we're at right now is that the bitcoin market is making the projects profitable, so three years ago it might not of been profitable at all because bitcoin was not $40,000, $50,000, $60,000," said Galloway. "So it wasn't necessarily on the radar but now that we're seeing bitcoin prices come up into the $40,000's or greater, the projects make a lot more sense and people want to be involved in it."
Bringing more of the cryptocurrency industry into the area could also help bring in new jobs and enhance the economy of West Texas.
"This is a way to cross train people, get more electricians, pumpers, construction. There's a big market for new jobs directly in this industry," said Galloway.