IBENO
Exxon Mobil, the United States’ largest oil and gas corporation, plans to run a pilot Bitcoinmining programme, which uses excess natural gas that would otherwise be burned off, to mine Bitcoin at its Qua Iboe Terminal in Nigeria, according to Bloomberg.
Qua Iboe Terminal is one of Nigeria’s largest export facilities and plants in which Exxon Mobil owns 40% interest in the field production mix.
The terminal is located on the eastern side of the Qua Iboe River estuary and contains nine crude oil storage tanks with a total capacity of 4.5 million bbls (Billion barrels of petroleum liquids).
The production currently averages approximately 320kbd (Thousands of Barrels Per Day).
The firm launched a pilot programme in January 2021 where it used excess natural gas that would otherwise be burned off from North Dakota oil wells to power cryptocurrency mining operations.
According to sources, the firm plans to expand this operation to other sites around the globe including Nigeria.
The report stated, “Exxon, the largest U.S. oil producer, is considering similar pilots in Alaska, the Qua Iboe Terminal in Nigeria, Argentina’s VacaMuerta shale field, Guyana and Germany.”
However, there is already a bid to purchase Exxon Mobil’s stake by Seplat Energy for $1.28 billion.
Late February, just after the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, Seplat announced the agreement to acquire Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) from Exxon Mobil Corporation.
The MPNU portfolio includes the Qua IboeTerminal in question.
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