Crusoe Energy: Crusoe plans to install gas flare data centers in Utah

Crusoe Energy will install data center modules at Utah oil wells and power the facilities with excess natural gas. This week, Crusoe Energy Systems and XCL Resources announced a new agreement to deploy Crusoe's Digital Flare Mitigation (DFM) technology at XCL sites in Utah's Uinta Basin. Large quantities of natural gas are presently burned ("flared off") by oil companies at oil wells because its extraction is unprofitable. Crusoe installs gas turbines at oil wells and uses the otherwise discarded gas to power containerized computers, conducting tasks believed to be predominantly crypto mining and artificial intelligence and supercomputing.

Under the terms of the new agreement, Crusoe will add 'six million standard cubic feet per day' of DFM capacity. An image in the press release depicts approximately 36 modules, but the company claims it will reduce CO2e emissions by as much as 273,000 tons annually. 

The company claims that the process benefits the environment because the energy that would otherwise be wasted is utilized, and the gas is burned more efficiently, emitting less unburned methane. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG); its combustion produces CO2, a much less potent but longer-lasting GHG. Crusoe's data indicate that burning methane to CO2 reduces short-term CO2-equivalent emissions by 69 percent compared to flaring.

The practice has also been dubbed "greenwash" because it makes fossil fuel extraction appear slightly greener without reducing overall fossil fuel consumption.