The archive · Climate & Energy · Strategic decision · 2022–2025
Unblock's bet: flared Vaca Muerta gas can power data centers, then AI
Unblock turns flared Vaca Muerta gas into power for modular bitcoin-mining data centers; US$13.5M raised, 15 MW installed, 142,000 t CO₂ avoided a year.
Unblock
What the business is
Unblock builds modular data centers on oil fields in Argentina's Vaca Muerta that run on natural gas that would otherwise be flared, using the electricity for bitcoin mining today and aiming at AI compute next.
Starting capital：US$25M invested in two projects to date; a US$13.5M round in July 2025 led by Goldcrest Capital and Collaborative Fund, with FJ Labs, NYDIG, Luxor Technology, Sunna Ventures, Pampa Energía and Grupo Sielecki.
How it started
Ocampo founded Unblock in May 2022 after seeing Vaca Muerta's oil boom produce more gas than pipelines could carry, so producers flared it. He bet that modular data centers at the wellhead could turn that waste gas into electricity for compute — a market failure for oil companies, an energy bargain for miners.
What happened
Unblock invested US$25M in two sites: 12 MW at Tecpetrol's Los Toldos II Este and 3 MW at Pluspetrol's Loma Jarillosa Este. Its 12 containerized data centers each draw 1 MW, and eight generators burn 50,000–60,000 cubic meters of gas a day. In July 2025 it raised US$13.5M led by Goldcrest Capital and Collaborative Fund to double capacity, claiming 142,000 tonnes of CO₂ avoided per year — roughly the emissions of 43,000 cars a day.
How it ended up
Unblock operates what it calls the world's second-largest computing fleet on oil-field installations and said it would double processing capacity by September 2025. The company is hiring to double its 13-person team and plans to move beyond bitcoin toward AI data centers, betting Argentina's energy and climate conditions open a regional compute window within four to five years.
Background
Unblock was founded in May 2022 by Tomás Ocampo, an ex-YPF engineer, on a bet that Vaca Muerta's stranded gas was not a waste product but a cheap fuel for computing. Oil producers were flaring gas they could not put into pipelines; Unblock parks containerized data centers at the wellhead, burns that gas for electricity, and mines bitcoin — the same move Crusoe Energy proved in the US.
The model gave oil companies an economic answer to flaring. Unblock invested US$25M in two sites — 12 MW at Tecpetrol's Los Toldos II Este and 3 MW at Pluspetrol's Loma Jarillosa Este — where eight generators consume 50,000–60,000 cubic meters of gas a day. In July 2025, Goldcrest Capital and Collaborative Fund led a US$13.5M round, with FJ Labs, NYDIG, Luxor Technology, Sunna Ventures and Argentine companies Pampa Energía and Grupo Sielecki joining.
Unblock says its two projects avoid 142,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year, roughly the emissions of 43,000 cars daily, and calls itself the world's second-largest computing fleet on oil-field installations. The new capital doubles capacity, and the stated roadmap points beyond bitcoin to AI data centers, which Ocampo expects Argentina's energy and climate to reward within four or five years.
What has to be true
- Flared gas is priced at zero at the wellhead, giving Unblock an energy cost advantage no grid-tied miner can match.
- Oil producers get compliance value from avoided emissions as carbon and methane fees spread.
- Licensing Crusoe's proven software and design cut technical risk in a hard environment.
- Modular containers scale in 1 MW steps, so capacity follows oil-field gas supply without big infrastructure bets.
- The same compute stack can pivot from bitcoin to AI workloads as energy demand shifts.
What can be applied
Unblock profited from a market failure instead of waiting for infrastructure: when pipelines aren't worth building, move the compute to the energy rather than the energy to the compute.
Aftermath
As of September 2026, Unblock continues to operate and expand in Vaca Muerta: after the July 2025 round it set out to double its 15 MW of installed capacity, keeps Pluspetrol and Tecpetrol as anchor clients, and is building toward AI-oriented compute alongside bitcoin mining. It remains a small company — about a dozen employees, mostly in Neuquén — and the July 2025 financing is still its latest disclosed round, with no announced shutdown, pivot, or further raise. Oil-field gas capture remains the core of the model, with Latin American expansion stated as the next step.
Sources
- Startup que mina criptomonedas con gas de Vaca Muerta consigue US$13,5 millones en ronda de inversión
- Criptominería en Vaca Muerta: cómo una startup argentina convierte el gas desperdiciado en dólares digitales
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