Russian oil companies have offered to use Russian equipment at their fields for mining cryptocurrencies. They proposed using associated petroleum gas (APG) for these purposes, with the help of which electricity will be generated to supply data centers needed for mining. The project has been sent for consideration to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
It is reported that one of the major Russian oil companies would like to scale its cryptocurrency mining project, but this segment is in a legally gray zone, and the company is afraid of a negative reaction from the Central Bank, so it turned to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which can discuss the risks with the regulator.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade reported that the project is being discussed with regulators. In accordance with the law “On Digital Financial Assets”, the procedure for the circulation of digital currency should be regulated by separate laws. According to the Central Bank, approaches to regulation are currently being discussed.
Experts consider the proposal controversial. On the one hand, there is the gas that is unprofitable for transportation, from which electricity can be obtained. On the other hand, this business is non-core and costly for oil companies, since they will have to pay for the maintenance of data centers.
Although there is no legal ban on mining in Russia, cryptocurrency cannot be exchanged or used as a means of payment. Therefore, according to experts, it is possible that oil companies will provide excess capacity for investors from China, where mining is prohibited.
It is worth noting that officially only Gazprom Neft has a mining project: in 2020, the company launched it at its field in Khanty-Mansiysk JSC. For a month, the company's partners managed to get 1.8 BTC. Gazprom Neft declined to comment.
