By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union countries may demand that Brussels simplify the EU’s methane emissions law, which has stoked concerns from companies that it could hamper imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas, according to a document seen by Reuters.
From this year, the EU requires importers of oil and gas to monitor and report the methane emissions associated with these imports. Methane, which escapes from leaky gas infrastructure, is the second-biggest cause of climate change after carbon dioxide emissions.
Draft conclusions from a meeting of EU countries’ energy ministers on Monday showed governments are preparing to ask the European Commission to add the methane law to its “simplification” drive to cut bureaucracy for companies.
The draft asked the Commission to quickly assess which EU energy laws can be simplified, “in order to decrease the administrative burden on Member States, industry and citizens, for example the methane regulation as it might impact the cooperation with economic operators from outside of the EU”.
The conclusions are still being drafted by Poland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, and could change before ministers adopt them on Monday.
The EU agreed its methane law last May, but the policy has come under increased scrutiny as the EU attempts to quit Russian gas – and to buy more U.S. liquefied natural gas to replace it.
Washington and Brussels have each indicated that EU purchases of U.S. LNG could form part of a broader U.S.-EU trade deal. U.S. President Donald Trump has set a July 9 deadline for the EU to reach a deal and avert steep tariffs.
Romania and Slovakia are among countries warning that the methane law could disrupt gas imports. Some U.S. LNG firms have warned they will struggle to comply with the EU law, since the fragmented nature of the country’s industry means they cannot track emissions along their entire value chains, down to specific gas wells.
Environmental groups have rejected this idea, arguing that systems exist which can digitally trace gas through the value chain, in line with the EU law’s demands.
In a letter to U.S. and EU officials this month, seen by Reuters, U.S. industry group LNG Allies asked for a trade deal to ensure U.S. gas exporters are deemed to be following “equivalent” methane rules to those of the EU, and therefore automatically comply with the methane law.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett; additional reporting by Timothy Gardner, Valerie Volcovici, editing by Ed Osmond)
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