Overview
- The European Commission has signalled it will seek a one-year postponement of the methane rules that would apply to oil and gas imports, but any change still needs a formal proposal and approval by EU member states and the European Parliament.
- The import rules were due to take effect on January 1, 2027 and would require foreign suppliers to monitor and report methane emissions across the supply chain.
- Industry analysts and exporters say most producing countries and verifiers are not yet ready to meet the EU’s equivalence and that accredited verification systems for emissions data are missing.
- Several EU governments and major suppliers, including the United States and Qatar, pressed for a delay over legal and commercial concerns and warned that non-compliance could lead companies to divert LNG and oil cargoes away from Europe, raising winter supply and price risks.
- The policy choice now forces a trade-off between upholding a pioneering climate standard and managing short-term energy security, with the import delay seen as a temporary step to avoid market disruption while technical and enforcement gaps are closed.