Fuel giant will mine Bitcoin using petroleum gas

Fuel giant YPF announced that it is using surplus gas from oil extraction to mine Bitcoin in Argentina, in the Patagonia region.

As the company revealed, the mining pool, which houses 1,200 ASICs, is called Central Térmica Bajo del Toro and is located in Rincón de Los Sauces, Neuquén. The companies YPF and YPF Luz, the Norwegian Equinor and the Bitcoin mining company Genesis Digital Assets Limited (GDA) operate the pool.

YPF (Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales) is one of the most important energy companies in Argentina. It is the third largest oil company in South America. Its activities include prospecting, exploiting, refining, transporting, marketing and selling oil, natural gas, electricity and derivatives.

In the region where the company is mining Bitcoin, the thermal plant has a total installed capacity of 8 MW. Furthermore, the initiative is a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, make efficient use of energy and monetize surplus gas that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

The company explained that the gas is “reused to generate electrical energy destined for a new industry like Bitcoin mining,” which they describe as “highly energy intensive, but without affecting the availability of the country’s electrical power grid and contributing to a sustainable solution.”

Bitcoin Mining

Abdumalik Mirakhmedov, executive president of GDA, the company that carries out mining operations at the plant, considers that Argentina “is an important country for Bitcoin mining”. This is because it has an abundance of energy sources and a “business-friendly environment”.

Mirakhmedov revealed that this is the first Bitcoin mining pool installed in South America. For them, “it is an important step” in the intention to expand their operations.

GDA has at least 19 Bitcoin mining pools spread across different parts of the world, including North America, Europe and Central Asia. Together they have 500 MW of installed capacity, distributed across more than 180 thousand mining platforms.