The United States has asked the European Union to exempt US natural gas from key requirements of the EU methane regulation, according to a document seen by Reuters and reported on 15 December 2025. The US request includes delaying the import obligations to 2035 and treating US federal rules as automatically equivalent to EU standards. The European Commission has said it will not repeal the regulation or grant an exemption, while it works on implementation guidance that could ease compliance.
The dispute concerns the import provisions of Regulation (EU) 2024/1787, adopted in 2024, which sets methane rules for the oil, gas and coal sectors. For EU operators, the regulation requires measurement, leak detection and repair, and limits on venting and flaring. For imports, it requires that oil, gas and coal supplied to the EU be subject to monitoring, reporting and verification measures equivalent to those applied in the EU. According to the Commission's guidance, the equivalence obligations apply to contracts from January 2027, and a methane intensity limit is to follow later in the decade.
Why the US is pressing
The United States is the largest supplier of LNG to the EU, and its share has risen since 2022 as Europe replaced Russian pipeline gas. US LNG export capacity is expanding rapidly, with several large projects reaching final investment decisions in 2025. European buyers have signed long-term contracts with US exporters, and EU officials have discussed buying more US energy as part of trade negotiations with Washington.
US exporters and officials argue that the EU's requirements are burdensome and difficult to meet for gas that passes through a complex network of producers, gatherers, pipelines and liquefaction plants before it is loaded onto a ship. Gas from many different wells is mixed in the pipeline system, which makes it difficult to trace the methane intensity of a specific cargo back to its source.
The US position also reflects changes in federal methane policy. In March 2025 Congress struck down the EPA rule implementing the methane waste emissions charge, and the administration has said it will reconsider federal methane standards for oil and gas. A weaker federal framework would make it harder for the US to claim regulatory equivalence at country level.
How the EU is responding
The Commission has signalled flexibility in how the regulation is implemented without changing the law itself. Reuters reported in October that the Commission was exploring options to help US gas comply, including equivalence treatment. A Council document from late 2025 describes an implementation approach that favours certification or so-called trace-and-claim methods for mixed gas supplies, and asks member states to apply penalties consistently.
Under the regulation, equivalence can be shown at the level of a producer, through company-level measurement and verification, or at the level of a country, if the Commission recognises the exporting country's regulatory framework as equivalent. Producer-level certification schemes, such as those built on the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 reporting framework, are likely to play a central role for US gas if country-level equivalence is not granted.
What it means for LNG contracts
For EU importers, the regulation creates a compliance obligation that they will pass back to suppliers through contract terms. Buyers signing new contracts are already including clauses requiring methane data and certification. Existing long-term contracts signed before the regulation took effect are treated differently in the transition provisions, which matters for the large volumes of US LNG already under contract.
If US exporters cannot provide the required data, EU buyers could face penalties or be forced to shift purchases, though the scale of US supply and the limited alternatives make a sharp shift unlikely in the near term. More likely is a period in which certification schemes, measurement programmes and contract terms adapt, with some cost added to US cargoes destined for Europe.
Methane intensity as a market factor
The International Energy Agency estimates that methane emissions from the energy sector remain above 120 million tonnes a year, and that around 70% could be avoided with existing technologies. The IEA also found a range of 100 times between the best and worst performing countries and companies on methane intensity. Producers with low intensity and good data are in a stronger position to sell into markets with methane requirements.
Several US producers and LNG developers already offer certified low-methane gas and have invested in continuous monitoring. Others have lagged. The EU rules give low-emission producers a commercial argument, and they create a cost for those without measurement systems.
Measurement challenges
The practical difficulty lies in measurement. Methane emissions in the gas supply chain come from many sources: leaking valves and compressors, venting at well sites, incomplete combustion in flares and releases during maintenance. Estimates based on emission factors have often understated actual emissions, according to studies using aircraft and satellite data. The EU regulation moves towards measurement at source and site level, which requires investment in monitoring equipment and independent verification.
For a cargo of LNG loaded on the US Gulf Coast, the gas may come from hundreds of wells operated by dozens of companies. Trace-and-claim approaches allow a buyer to claim the attributes of certified gas purchased into the same system, much like certificates in electricity markets. How the Commission treats such approaches will largely decide how much US gas can meet the 2027 requirements.
The trade dimension
The methane dispute sits within broader EU-US trade discussions. The EU has expressed interest in buying more US LNG, and US officials have linked energy purchases to trade terms. Any accommodation on methane rules would be watched by other exporters, including Qatar, Norway, Algeria and Nigeria, which also supply the EU and will be subject to the same requirements.
Qatar has also raised concerns about EU sustainability rules, including the corporate sustainability due diligence directive, which shows that the methane issue is part of a wider debate over how EU climate and sustainability rules apply to energy imports.
What to watch
Key milestones include the Commission's implementing acts and guidance on equivalence and certification, any decision on country-level equivalence for the United States, and how new LNG contracts signed in 2026 address methane data. The January 2027 start of equivalence obligations is the date by which the commercial arrangements need to be in place.