EC eyeing country-level standard for EU methane regulation

The European Commission is closing in on recommendations for compliance and penalties under the European Union's methane emissions regulation amid sustained frustration from market participants ahead of a 2027 regulatory deadline when tighter legal requirements begin, the EU's director-general for energy, Ditte Juul Jorgensen, said April 9 at the Eurogas Methane Emissions Conference in Brussels.

The EU regulation aims to reduce methane emissions from the energy sector, both in Europe and across global supply chains. It includes a methane emissions reporting requirement for natural gas, crude oil, and coal imports, as well as a mandate for importers to meet emissions-intensity limits that have yet to be established.

A key deadline comes at the start of 2027, when new import contracts must meet the same monitoring, reporting, and verification standards as EU producers, or face penalties.

On compliance, Jorgensen said April 9 that the EC plans to recommend a country-level standard, rather than more granular mandates.

"Compliance will not require tracking or tracing at the level of the molecule or at the level of the cargo or at the level of the basin or at the level of the specific company," she said. Rather, the recommendation would be that it is acceptable for a "sufficient share" of domestic production in an exporting country to meet the measurement, reporting, and verification standards, according to the director-general.

"If that can be shown, if that can be clear, then that constitutes compliance," Jorgensen said. She did not offer further details on what would constitute a "sufficient share."

Jorgensen also said the EC is finalizing a recommendation that would ensure penalties under the regulation do not threaten energy supply security. She stressed that ministers from all 27 EU member states back this, though she did not elaborate on the details of the recommendation.

"That is what all national authorities want to do," she said. "To make sure that penalties do not constitute a problem, that no cargo is diverted or delayed because of a concern related to penalties."

Member states are responsible for imposing penalties under the regulation, which stipulates that they can be as high as 20% of a company's annual turnover. However, the law also says penalties must "not endanger the security of energy supply."

The EC is also assembling a guidance document to aid consistent implementation across member states, Jorgensen said.

The director-general did not give an explicit timeline for releasing the measures but said the EC is "very, very close" to finalizing them.

Industry ire

Many participants in the European gas sector have expressed frustration about persistent regulatory uncertainty around how to comply with the methane regulation ahead of its firmer 2027 deadline.

A swath of energy industry players have called for the EC to delay the rollout to allow more time to sort out the implementation and compliance questions. Eurogas president Cristian Signoretto reiterated this request at the conference.

"We are a bit running now out of time," he said. "The contracts that are going to deliver gas to the market by [2027] are being negotiated now—I would say yesterday."

European market participants have reported challenges contracting LNG cargoes due to the regulatory uncertainty.

Jorgensen did not touch on the prospect of delaying the rollout in her April 9 remarks.

However, she acknowledged that the approaching requirements come as Europe faces heightened challenges from the conflict in the Middle East and stressed the importance of ensuring adequate energy flows both during and beyond the current disruptions from the war.

"We want to make sure that our regulatory system—our rules—do not stand in the way of security of supply," Jorgensen said.

LNG imports

The EU has become increasingly reliant on LNG for baseline gas needs in the years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine—particularly from the US.

In 2025, the EU brought in about 106 million metric tons (146.2 Bcm) of LNG—the first time on record imports surpassed 100 million mt, according to data from S&P Global Energy CERA. The US was the EU's top LNG trade partner over the year, supplying 60 million mt. This also made 2025 the first year on record in which the EU sourced over 50% of its imports from one country.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed the DES Northwest Europe LNG marker at $15.17/million British thermal units on April 8, down 12.5% day over day.