Crusoe Energy, located in Denver, will aid the Middle Eastern country in reducing gas flaring via a 2022 pilot project

Bloomberg reported on June 1 that Crusoe Energy, an operator repurposing lost fuel energy to the computing power of cryptocurrency mining, will begin operations in Oman, a country that exports 21 percent of its natural gas output and aims to eliminate gas flaring by 2030.

The American corporation will establish a presence in the capital city of Oman, Muscat, and install its gas waste capture technology at well locations. It has already hosted a workshop with the two main energy producers in Oman, OQ SAOC and Petroleum Development Oman. According to Crusoe's chief executive officer, Chase Lochmiller, the first pilot project will be deployed by the end of current year or early 2023.

The government of Oman's interest in the collaboration is motivated by a desire to reduce gas flaring - the burning of surplus combustible gas during the extraction process. Oman, together with Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, is responsible for 90 percent of flaring in the Arab area, while the region as a whole is responsible for 38 percent of worldwide flaring. According to the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia of the United Nations, ten percent of Oman's gas usage in 2018 was flared.

Throughout an official statement, Lochmiller highlighted his company's objective to establish a foothold in the Middle East and Northern Africa in order to assist local governments in their battle against flare:

Having the buy-in from nations that are actively trying to solve the flaring issues is what we are looking for.

Media outlets claimed in March that Exxon Mobil has collaborated with Crusoe to test a Bitcoin mining operation in the Bakken shale area in North Dakota. However, the corporations did not corroborate this information.