One year postponement will now require first import obligations from January 1, 2028.
What: New methane monitoring and reporting rules for foreign oil and gas companies exporting to the EU are being delayed from coming into force for one year to January 2028.
Why: The delay in enacting the requirements is designed to provide Europe with increased flexibility for imports as the continent struggles with a supply shortage and high energy prices.
What Next: A consultation period for public feedback will run until November 6 with finalisation of implementing the regulation expected by end of year.
The European Commission has adopted a proposal to delay for one year the implementation of requirements of the EU Methane Regulation for importers, the European Commissioned announced in a press release on October 13.
The European Commission cited the need to reduce pressure on European industry and governments as the continent grapples with a supply shortage and faces sky-high import prices for LNG.
The proposed amendment relates to the monitoring, reporting, and verification requirements for importers of natural gas, oil, and coal. It also relates to the reporting on methane-intensity requirements for both importers as well as EU producers.
Plans to postpone methane rules for oil and gas imports into the EU were first announced in late September. Strong pressure from the governments of France, the US and other exporters led to Brussels caving.
In an interview with Bloomberg, the EU’s Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen acknowledged that Europe finds itself between a rock and hard place. Storage supplies are low and energy prices are soaring as Europe and Asia compete for LNG cargoes on the spot market amid the world’s second-largest LNG exporter Qatar declaring force majeure following Iran’s attack on its Ras Laffan Industrial Complex and Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Amid this challenging backdrop, Brussels decided to scale back its ambitious climate initiative pushing back the start date for the new rules to take effect from January 1, 2027 to January 1, 2028.
Additionally, importers of oil and gas would have a deadline of May 31, 2029 to show that their coal, oil and gas imports from a year earlier met EU obligations for methane monitoring and reporting. This would require international suppliers to provide this information to European buyers.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency methane warms the planet about 30 times more than carbon dioxide per tonne over 100 years, and about 80 times more over 20 years.
The EU Methane Regulation has continued to find implementation difficult. With Europe committing to quitting Russian LNG, Brussels has already been promising to discover regulatory flexibilities to assist US LNG companies in meeting the obligations.
On April 5 an EU ban on Russian LNG under short-term contracts came into force. And on January 1 a ban on Russian LNG in long-term contracts will kick-in completing the full LNG phase-out. The EU has also set a deadline of September 30, 2027 to ban Russian pipeline gas imports under long-term contracts, although this could be extended to November 1, 2027.
Additionally, amid Donald Trumps attempts to redesign global trade and the threat of tariffs, the EU agreed in July 2025 to buy $750bn of US LNG, crude oil, and coal exports over the next three years, in return for a lower tariff level of 15% attached to most EU goods.
With this commitment, the EU was already searching for ways to find flexibilities for US LNG to meet the EU Methane Regulation, long before the Middle East crisis erupted.
And now, with the current market challenges, the EU has been forced to accept the current energy security realities and bow to increased pressure from suppliers. In June, the US, Qatar, Algeria and Nigeria, which all serve as key energy suppliers to Europe, jointly urged the EU to alter implementation of the regulation, warning that the current approach threatened oil and gas supply.
And even beyond the EU Methane Regulation, Qatar had already found itself at odds with Brussels, threatening to halt shipment of LNG cargoes if the bloc does not modify its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. The Directive obliges large firms doing business in the EU to find and eliminate environmental and human rights and issues in their supply chains.
Meanwhile among EU members, it has been France that has been leading the charge to delay the EU Methane Regulation. In September, Frenc President Emmanuel Macron requested the European Commission to push back the regulation a year, sounding the alarm that the new rules could cause legal challenges for fuel importers in Europe.
There has even been a push for a three-year postponement of the EU Methane Regulation led by Italy and Czechia in addition to industry groups, such as the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers.
Whether the postponement is extended to three years or remains as just one year is yet to be determined, but one thing that is a certainty is that Brussels lofty ambitions to curb methane emissions are at the mercy of the current market situation and energy security challenges.