Joint Industry Call for targeted amendments to the Methane Emissions Reduction Regulation

Saatja: François-Régis Mouton de Lostalot-Lassalle <[email protected]>

Saadetud: 13.04.2026 19:33

Koopia: Iskren Kirilov, Ph.D <[email protected]>; Maxime Abou Tara

<[email protected]>; Catherine Bacho <[email protected]>

Teema: Joint Industry Call for targeted amendments to the Methane

Emissions Reduction Regulation

Tähtsus: Kõrgeim

Tähelepanu! Tegemist on välisvõrgust saabunud kirjaga.Tundmatu saatja

korral palume linke ja faile mitte avada.Dear Ministers,

On behalf of the 67 co-signatories, please the enclosed letter calling

for targeted amendments to the Methane Emissions Reduction Regulation

through the EU simplification agenda including the stop-the-clock.

Yours sincerely,

François-Régis Mouton de Lostalot

François‑Régis Mouton de Lostalot‑Lassalle

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Managing Director, Europe

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IOGP

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International Association of Oil & Gas Producers

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www.iogpeurope.org

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Reception: +32 2 882 16 53

To: Energy Ministers of EU27 Member States CC: Ms Ursula von der Leyen – President of the European Commission Mr Stéphane Séjourné – Executive Vice President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Mr Maroš Šefčovič – Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Mr Valdis Dombrovskis – Commissioner for Economy and Productivity; Implementation and Simplification Mr Dan Jørgensen – Commissioner for Energy and Housing

Brussels, 13th April 2026

Urgent call for targeted amendments to the Methane Emissions Reduction Regulation through the EU simplification agenda including the stop-the-clock

Dear Energy Ministers,

While Europe and our companies work to secure oil and gas supply to mitigate the impact of the ongoing Middle East crisis, we wish to stress that the EU Methane Emissions Reduction Regulation (EUMR), in its current form, risks undermining the Union’s energy security of supply and competitiveness.

After a joint industry effort to carefully assess possible impacts, we are concerned that significant parts of the EU’s natural gas and crude oil imports may not comply with the Regulation’s requirements as of January 2027 - up to 43% of the EU’s natural gas and around 90% of its crude oil imports.1

This limits the EU’s access to globally traded energy at a time when supply is constrained. The Regulation’s uncertain and excessive penalties, up to 20% of annual turnover, is also a deterrence to European importers signing supply contracts2. The Regulation’s requirements are overly complicated and impossible to operationalize within set deadlines. Companies and public authorities hence face clear legal compliance risks.

We appreciate and support the efforts of Member States and the European Commission services to address industry concerns through pragmatic implementation. However, we remain concerned they will not provide the necessary legal certainty to ensure imports are not negatively impacted, be it in terms of volumes or price.

1 Wood Mackenzie, EU Methane Emissions Regulation – Analysis of Market Impacts, March 2026 2 Financial Times, “Germany’s Uniper warns EU methane rules will hit Europe’s energy supplies,” March 2026

Even in a more flexible scenario where adjustments to the Regulation are made, allowing the entire production from 5 or 10 key supplier countries (incl. UK, Norway, US, Qatar, Nigeria), the price impact would be equivalent to those witnessed on European energy markets due to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.3

Furthermore, the Regulation also puts significant strain on the EU’s domestic producers and infrastructure operators by mandating costly and non-proportional measures while yielding little benefit or potentially even a net GHG emissions increase4 – this could further accelerate the decline of Europe’s domestic production, weaken its strategic autonomy, and make the energy transition more costly.

The oil and gas industry has made significant progress in reducing methane emissions5

and has developed recommendations for a more efficient, realistic and proportionate approach that incentivizes progress and innovation and – most of all – enables compliance6.

We are ready to work closely with European institutions to ensure rules that promote continued reduction of methane emissions while avoiding risks to the energy supply, affordability and competitiveness of Europe’s citizens, businesses, and energy-intensive industries.

Given these risks, we urgently call for targeted amendments to the Methane Emissions Reduction Regulation through the EU simplification agenda, including the stop-the-clock mechanism as per recent requests from several Member States.

Yours sincerely,

The co-signatories

The list below is organised by alphabetical order, starting with companies and followed by trade associations

3 Ibid, Wood Mackenzie 4 Offshore Norway's public hearing statement to the Norwegian government related to the applicability of the EUMR to Norwegian law 5 The energy sector accounts for a higher reduction in Methane emissions than both agriculture and waste. Emissions have declined by 77% from 230 Mt CO2e in 1970 to 52.9 Mt CO2e in 2024 (based on data from the European Environment Agency and EDGAR. See more information on IOGP Europe website 6 IOGP Europe et al., Joint Statement: calling for reducing methane emissions while ensuring EU energy security, December 2025.