On Monday 20 April, eleven European gas players, including FuelsEurope and Eurogas, issued a manifesto “in favour of simplifying the requirements applicable to importers under the European methane regulation”.
They “fully support the objective of methane reducing methane emissions by the EU Methane Emissions Regulation (EUMR) and EU’s ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”.
But the EUMR import requirements “introduce a new layer of compliance risks and contractual complexities for natural gas, LNG and crude oil importers, which will affect crude and natural gas markets whilst putting a significant burden and compliance risk on EU importers, with uncertain extraterritorial implications”.
These players believe that the MRV equivalency requirements, initially scheduled to be applied from 1 January 2027, are not feasible within the timeframe set and are calling for them to be suspended.
From 2027, rules will apply on the equivalence and measurement of methane emissions imported into the EU, based on Regulation 2024/1787. Importers of oil, gas and coal will have to demonstrate that exporting countries comply with monitoring, reporting and verification requirements equivalent to EU standards.
“Many crude oil and natural gas producers in third countries will simply not be able to meet the high requirements for equivalency in time”.
In December, a number of EU countries also asked for flexibility (see EUROPE 13773/12).
Link to amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/llt (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)