Cryptocurrency is not the only game in town when it comes to using natural gas at the wellhead to reduce flaring. There are self-driving cars, the coming “metaverse,” language processing, chat bots, and more, all of which require advanced computing and a lot of energy.
The demand is driving an expansion of services for Crusoe Energy, which has been highlighted before both for its cryptocurrency mining facilities in the Bakken, and for its donation of computing services to research scientists modeling COVID-19 during the pandemic.
CEO and cofounder of Crusoe Energy Chase Lochmiller said the company plans to grow employment in the Bakken from the 40 or so employed today to nearly 100 people in the near future. That expansion won’t all be cryptocurrency, either. A lot of it will be Silicone Valley types of super computing that is in such demand today.
“A lot of the artificial intelligence research done in the cloud may have nothing to do with cryptocurrency,” Lochmiller said. “It’s just demand for computing workloads. “And, you know, given the ability to harness value from this stranded energy resources and flaring, we can really help innovators power their computing needs with that stranded energy.”
Crusoe Energy, in fact, has a team based in Silicon Valley, and Lochmiller said they are frequently deploying high-tech and skilled labor from Silicon Valley in North Dakota.
It’s not just the favorable cool climate or the abundant energy supply that’s encouraged Crusoe Energy to expand.
“We’ve had very positive relationships with the government,” Lochmiller said. “You know it’s been a government that’s certainly been very pro-business and very thoughtful in terms of the regulatory environment.”