By Kate Abnett BRUSSELS, Dec 11 - The European Union will make it easier for companies to comply with its methane emissions law on oil and gas imports, a move that could benefit U.S. gas exports to
EU Eases Methane Law Compliance for Oil and Gas Imports
By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS, Dec 11 - The European Union will make it easier for companies to comply with its methane emissions law on oil and gas imports, a move that could benefit U.S. gas exports to the EU after the Trump administration pressured Brussels to amend the policy.
Starting this year, the EU requires importers of oil and gas to Europe to monitor and report the methane emissions associated with those imports, in a bid to reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas.
The world-first climate policy has faced opposition from U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who has called it impossible to implement and warned it could disrupt U.S. gas supplies to Europe.
In a document shared with EU member governments, the European Commission said it was offering two simpler routes to comply, for cases where the origin of gas is hard to trace. That could apply to U.S. liquefied natural gas, where a single shipment contains commingled sources of fuel from numerous gas fields.
"The Commission has identified solutions for a simple and predictable implementation," the Commission document said.
One option would let companies comply using certificates bought from a third-party verifier, which would assign the imported gas an emissions value at its production location.
The second option is a "trace and claim" method, in which volumes of fuel are assigned a digital ID, which is attached to all sale and purchase agreements as the oil or gas moves through the value chain from producer to, eventually, the final buyer.
The changes do not amend the main requirements of the methane law - which will become increasingly strict over time. From 2027, it will make compliance with methane rules equivalent to those of the EU a requirement for new gas supply contracts.
U.S. exporters had warned they would struggle to comply with the law, because the fragmented nature of the country's gas industry means they cannot track methane emissions along their value chains.
EU governments' national authorities are responsible for enforcing the methane law. The Commission asked them to confirm which compliance rules they would accept. Countries' energy ministers will discuss the plan in Brussels on Monday.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett. Editing by Mark Potter)
