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Bitcoin power consumption need not blow your brains - yet
total of 50 MW is the goal of later phases.
Russia, Kazakhstan and Iran, take a bow (or perhaps bury your head in shame from the environmental perspective) for making the top 10 for Bitcoin hashing on the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. Those mining Bitcoin—a decentralised digital currency without a central bank or single administrator—refer to the “hashrate”. Put simply, the hashrate is a measure of the computing power people plugged into electrical grids around the world are contributing to the mining.
And here and below is that top 10 as calculated by a study from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School.
Assessing just how much electricity the 11-year-old global Bitcoin mining industry—with its peer-to-peer electronic cash system—is consuming, the study settles on an annualised estimate of 7.46 GW, equivalent to around 64.83 terawatt-hours of energy consumption (slightly more than the Czech Republic, at 62.34 TWh per year, and Austria, at 64.60 TWh per year consume).
9.2 Major corporate news 9.2.1 Oil & gas corporate news
Iran finalises deals with local firms
Iran’s Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh in January oversaw the signing of eight deals between the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) and local companies to maintain and increase production levels for seven southern oilfields and one offshore asset. AsreportedbyMiddleEastOil&Gas(MEOG), the$1.2bnworthofdeals cover the offshore Reshadat oilfield as well as others located in the Bushehr, Fars, Khuzestan, Kohgiluyeh-Boyer Ahmad and Hormozgan provinces.
Deals were signed on behalf of NIOC by subsidiaries National Iranian South Oil Co. (NISOC) and Iranian Offshore Oil Co. (IOOC) and follow a larger raft of 13 contracts awarded in August last year worth an estimated $1.78bn targeting a production increase of 185,000 barrels per day.
The announcement comes as part of a nationwide effort to increase production by 355,000 bpd at a total of 33 fields. Under this umbrella initiative a total of 22 engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms have agreed deals for the 33 assets with two yet to be signed.
Some of the same companies picked up contracts in both sets of awards, with the latest round of contracts focusing mainly on smaller assets than those
54 IRAN Country Report February 2021 www.intellinews.com
