May Marathon Digital Holdings be in exploratory talks with Exxon Mobil and Saudi Aramco to colocate Bitcoin mining items at oilfields, straight tapping flare-gas for energy?
Crypto Twitter thinks it’s doable, and if confirmed, the partnership may turbocharge the size and legitimacy of gas-to-Bitcoin operations, turning waste methane right into a monetized digital asset whereas addressing ESG issues.
Marathon inventory pumper Cryptoklepto thinks, “It’s extra seemingly than not that at the very least certainly one of these eventualities performs out within the subsequent 6 to 12 months for $MARA.”
Whereas not one of the corporations have formally introduced a deal, Marathon CEO Fred Thiel hinted at “discussions with a few of the largest vitality corporations on the planet” on Might’s earnings name, including that “chunks of flare-gas era” will quickly come on-line the place we’re capable of deploy our Bitcoin mining operations.
The timing aligns with Aramco’s Might 2025 announcement of 34 new MoUs with U.S. corporations and follows Exxon’s earlier pilot with Crusoe Vitality in North Dakota.
Pilot-Confirmed, Able to Scale
Marathon isn’t ranging from scratch. In late 2024, it launched a 25-megawatt pilot in Texas utilizing stranded shale gasoline, avoiding grid competitors whereas qualifying for methane abatement credit. “The AI guys are ready to pay virtually any value for vitality,” Thiel informed Reuters. “Bringing crypto-mining to the uncooked energy provide lets us keep away from that combat.”
The corporate’s cellular, plug-and-play infrastructure is tailored for oilfields. These transportable modules convert in any other case flared methane into electrical energy, which is then used to mine Bitcoin, a course of that Exxon and Crusoe demonstrated at scale by diverting 18 million cubic toes of gasoline monthly and chopping CO₂-equivalent emissions by as much as 63%.
Saudi Aramco has beforehand denied any intention to mine Bitcoin. In 2021, the corporate labeled such reviews “false and inaccurate.”
Nonetheless, Marathon’s Thiel lately claimed the agency has 4–5 gigawatts of extra capability, a scale that might energy tens of hundreds of mining rigs. If even a small portion had been redirected, it could surpass the whole output of many standalone crypto services.
Exxon, in the meantime, has the institutional reminiscence and information from its two-year Crusoe pilot, which may make fast-tracking a brand new enterprise with Marathon much less speculative than it appears.
Why Now? A Confluence of Stress and Alternative
Behind the scenes, regulatory momentum is constructing. A U.S. methane emissions payment below the Inflation Discount Act kicks on this yr, pushing oil producers to seek out methods to scale back or monetize their emissions. Flare-gas mining affords a low-capex, high-upside path to compliance, notably when paired with carbon offset markets.
Additional, payments have been authorized in Texas particularly to encourage Bitcoin mining utilizing flare gasoline.
On the identical time, Bitcoin miners are grappling with compressed margins following the April 2025 halving. Marathon, one of many business’s largest listed gamers, produced 950 BTC in Might however should now aggressively pursue sub-$0.03/kWh vitality sources to stay aggressive. Flare-gas, as soon as a fringe vitality enter, may develop into a post-halving lifeline.
Skepticism stays warranted. No SEC filings, public agreements, or official feedback verify the Exxon or Aramco partnerships. Given Aramco’s previous denial, any shift in stance would seemingly contain months of allowing, infrastructure build-out, and reputational calculus.
If oil majors greenlight Bitcoin mining on the wellhead, the flare-gas dialog will shift from “can it work?” to “how briskly can it scale?” Marathon, with its turnkey modules and Wall Road footprint, could also be first in line.
What to Watch
- Public filings or MoUs from Exxon, Aramco, or Marathon confirming pilot collaborations.
- Vitality regulator responses to flare-gas mining amid the methane payment rollout.
- Q3 manufacturing updates: Marathon’s vitality prices and BTC yield per website.
- Neighborhood pushback round noise and emissions from Marathon’s Texas flare website.
“You’re going to seek out is a mixture of thermal, a mixture of wind, photo voltaic and a few flare gasoline. It actually relies upon in the marketplace and the associate.
We’re in discussions with a few of the largest vitality corporations on the planet which have a mixture of all these vitality sources and nuclear.
With regard to flare gasoline, there are lots of gasoline property world wide which might be very relevant to this methodology…
And what I feel you’ll see us doing increasingly sooner or later is as we proceed to work with particularly oil and gasoline producers, you’ll see chunks of this flare gasoline kind era come on-line in numerous elements of the world the place we’re capable of deploy our Bitcoin mining operations, as a option to monetize that stranded gasoline. And we’re tremendous enthusiastic about these alternatives.”
—Fred Thiel, Marathon CEO
This story is growing. CryptoSlate will replace as extra particulars emerge.
