EU Methane Regulation: Council urged to back Parliament’s three-year postponement for importers and address remaining gaps for domestic producers
Brussels, 22 October 2026 – By voting to allow three years to build the compliance framework for the EU Methane Regulation's importer requirements, the European Parliament has recognised the remaining implementation challenges and responded with a more realistic timeframe to address them. IOGP Europe now calls on Member States to follow Parliament's lead while addressing the outstanding concerns for domestic producers.
Parliament's position addresses two key shortcomings of the Commission's proposal: it extends the postponement of importer requirements from one to three years and introduces a crucial mechanism for further extensions if the necessary conditions for compliance are not met. It also postpones certain corresponding requirements for domestic producers, but not all relevant rules are addressed, which still leaves significant implementation challenges for EU producers unresolved.
François-Régis Mouton de Lostalot, Managing Director of IOGP Europe, commented:
“A rigid one-year postponement would bring policymakers and industry back to the same situation a mere twelve months from now. Parliament has correctly recognized that more time is needed to make the Regulation workable, and with this shows that common sense can prevail when implementation realities are taken into account.
Member States now have an opportunity to build on this progress. It is equally important to ensure a level playing field for domestic producers, who face considerable implementation challenges of their own. Our objective remains unchanged: to make the Regulation work, not to weaken it, while safeguarding Europe's energy security and affordability.”
Importer requirements: time and flexibility to complete the framework
Despite the January 2027 deadline for importers to demonstrate compliance with the EU Methane Regulation, significant elements of the necessary framework remain incomplete, including fully developed and endorsed verification protocols, accreditation of verifiers, independent verification of producers and recognised certification solutions. These interdependent steps involve multiple actors worldwide and cannot be completed by importers alone.
As IOGP Europe and 17 other industry organizations stressed in their letter of 8 October, a three-year postponement is needed to complete this work. Such a postponement will be an active implementation period, with clear milestones and accountability, and not a pause in methane reduction. Parliament's proposed mechanism for further extensions would also provide an essential safeguard should the necessary compliance arrangements not be operational in time.
Domestic production: progress, but challenges remain
Parliament also voted to postpone certain requirements under Article 12(3), concerning methane emissions measurement and reporting by EU operators. However, it did not provide a corresponding postponement of Article 14 on leak detection and repair (LDAR), despite significant technical challenges, particularly for offshore including subsea operations.
IOGP Europe calls on Member States to recognize and address these remaining challenges to avoid placing European oil and gas production at a competitive disadvantage, at this critical time.
Next steps
The Council is now expected to establish its negotiating position ahead of inter-institutional discussions with the European Parliament and Commission.
IOGP Europe calls for a final agreement that provides sufficient time and flexibility to complete the compliance framework for imports, addresses outstanding challenges for domestic producers, and delivers effective methane emissions reductions without jeopardizing Europe's energy security and affordability.
