MARA Announces 25-Megawatt Micro Data Center Project Powered by Excess Natural Gas from Oilfields

TLDR: In partnership with NGON, MARA is launching a 25-megawatt micro data center operation across wellheads in Texas and North Dakota, transforming excess gas into power for the data centers and providing a valuable service to energy producers helping increase methane mitigation efficiency up to 99%.

MARA is excited to announce the launch of a 25-megawatt micro data center operation powered exclusively by excess natural gas from oilfield production. This marks an important milestone for the company, as MARA will be operating its first owned power generation assets to convert this excess gas into electricity for use in on-site data centers. MARA has partnered on this operation with NGON, a leading on-site mitigation services provider, to increase utilization of natural gas and mitigate flaring – the controlled burning of gas – to reduce methane emissions.

Natural gas, a mixture primarily composed of methane, often emerges as a byproduct during crude oil extraction. However, establishing pipelines to transport this gas, which is known as “associated gas,” can pose significant logistical and economic challenges for well operators, leading to its underutilization. As a result, well operators often resort to flaring gas to reduce methane emissions. Every year, roughly 140 billion cubic meters of natural gas are flared globally. However, the average flare is only 92% efficient at combusting methane, releasing 8% of the potent gas into the atmosphere.  

The 25-megawatt micro data center operation will be distributed across wellheads in Texas and North Dakota. These sites, which would otherwise flare excess natural gas, began energizing in September and are expected to be fully operational by January 2025. This methodology captures and converts excess natural gas into economic value on-site while reducing operating costs and dramatically improving the sustainability of oil production – increasing methane mitigation efficiency up to 99%. The operation also establishes a pathway to create carbon credits via grid offsets through successful listing on the Verra Registry.

“Our strategic partnership with MARA marks an important milestone for both the energy and compute sectors,” said Matthew Tunney, NGON’s CEO. “The rapid energization of these sites is a testament to our curated strategy and the agile, scalable nature of our combined technological expertise. MARA is among the first public companies to adopt this approach, and we look forward to collaborating to provide a sustainable and cost-effective beneficial use for excess gas.”

“Reducing methane emissions is one the of most immediate and impactful ways to improve our environment,” said Fred Thiel, MARA’s Chairman and CEO. “Our latest operations reduce operating costs by utilizing existing natural gas production. These operations are also MARA’s first owned power generation assets, advancing our goal of greater vertical integration and operational resilience. We’ve set a new benchmark by achieving the lowest cost per bitcoin across our global operations while expanding our suite of energy solutions through on-site power generation."  

About MARA

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) is a global leader in digital asset compute that develops and deploys innovative technologies to build a more sustainable and inclusive future. MARA secures the world’s preeminent blockchain ledger and supports the energy transformation by converting clean, stranded, or otherwise underutilized energy into economic value.

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