The US is still calling for a delay to the implementation of the EU's methane regulation, a US Department of Energy (DOE) representative told Argus following EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen's comments last week that there would be no changes to the law.
The commission is not working on amendments to the law, but is pursuing a "compliance solution", Jorgensen said, stating that amendments would increase uncertainty on markets.
There are 16 EU member states calling for a three-year delay to the implementation of the law: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden.
The DOE representative told Argus they were "confident the commission will move forward with the necessary legislative fix", given the growing consensus across Europe. The US effort to delay the implementation of the methane law is also supported by Algeria, Guyana, Nigeria and Qatar.
Unlike similar EU regulations, the methane law outlines no verification system or standards through which methane emissions can be calculated. This ambiguity has led to uncertainty in the industry, with monitoring, reporting and verification requirements scheduled to come into effect on 1 January 2027.
The methane law puts the onus of MRV standard on the importing entity, but LNG importers may not have a long-term contractual relationship with upstream suppliers, adding complexity to the requirement for methane measurement, as methane emissions typically occur upstream of LNG liquefaction terminals. And if the absence of clear protocols to meet methane reporting obligations, importers themselves would be subject to non-compliance penalties.
The DOE called the methane regulation a "non-tariff trade barrier".
