What Bitcoin Miners Get Wrong About Oil And Gas w/ Sean McDonough
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Welcome back to The Mining Pod! Today, Sean McDonough, president and founder of New West Data joins us to talk about the company’s vertically integrated oil and gas bitcoin mining operations in Alberta, Canada. We explore the pros and cons of full O&G ownership versus JV partnerships, barriers for large oil companies entering Bitcoin mining, regulatory considerations in Alberta, and the convergence of oil, gas, and AI data centers.
**Notes:**
• New West: $1.5M CAD per megawatt CapEx cost
• Alberta flare gas mining still relatively small scale
• Dual revenue streams: oil sales + Bitcoin mining
• Cash flows split evenly between oil and Bitcoin
• Generators are largest CapEx item, more than miners
• Hash rate trading in 800-900 range for months
00:00 Start
02:38 New West
04:26 Ownership instead of service
07:35 Why don't we see more miner vertical integration
10:06 JV's and risk
10:56 Nat Gas economics
12:30 Nat Gas more profitable than mining?
15:48 Regulation in Alberta
17:57 Understanding of BTC mining in Alberta
19:58 Drillers shifting thinking
24:37 Economics of pure play Nat Gas mining?
28:45 Have oil producers soured on BTC miners?
32:55 NYDIG & Caruso buyout
36:09 Ai energy bottleneck
41:00 Hashrate predictions
42:41 Hashrate chart waves
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