European Commission Pushes To Delay Activation Of Methane Law

The European Commission expressed its readiness to grant oil and gas suppliers to the Union more time to adapt to methane rules, coinciding with rising European concerns regarding supply security and prices due to the situation in the Arabian Gulf region, a position concluded at the meeting of European Union energy ministers on September 28 and 29 in the Irish capital, Dublin.

The goal of the Dublin meeting is to exchange positions and study the energy situation in the 27 Union countries, in preparation for the upcoming European Energy Council meetings in October and December, which will decide on the methane issue, whether it will be activated as expected starting from next January 1, or delayed for another year.

European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jørgensen said, Tuesday, that the European Union has paid, since the beginning of the American war on Iran, an additional 100 billion euros for fossil fuels without obtaining an additional amount of oil or gas, which was behind the call to postpone the application of import rules for a year, due to concerns related to supplies and prices.

It was scheduled that the application of Article 28 of the European methane regulation would begin on energy imports coming from Algeria (represented by Sonatrach) and other exporting countries to Union nations, to prove to European authorities that oil or gas coming from outside the European Union is subject in the country of production to a system of monitoring, measurement, reporting, and verification of a certain level not exceeding a threshold estimated at “Level 5”.

However, the crisis that hit the energy sector, both in terms of scarcity and the resulting rise in prices, prompted decision-makers in the old continent to adopt the option of easing some regulatory burdens associated with the methane law, due to fears of this law’s impact on supplies and prices, as the winter season approaches, during which energy demand usually rises.

Methane is a gas released during oil and gas production, especially when leaks occur from wells, pipes, and facilities. It is one of the gases that contributes to global warming, according to European legislation, which gives oil and gas producing and exporting countries to Europe the choice to control the amount of methane that leaks during production and transport, report its volume, and also work to reduce its emissions, which requires countries and companies producing and exporting energy to Europe to develop measurement and monitoring systems.

This means that the European Union has given gas suppliers, headed by Algeria, extra time to adapt to these rules, instead of applying some obligations on their original date. Although the decision has not been finalized, the outcomes of the European energy ministers’ meeting in Dublin on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Irish capital, Dublin, establish the final decision that will be taken during the Commission’s next two meetings.

Algeria is considered the second largest gas exporter to the European Union with about 35 billion cubic meters of gas in 2025, through pipelines and liquefied natural gas combined, and the percentage reached the equivalent of 17.4% of the Union’s needs, after Norway, which met the European Union’s needs by 52.1%, and this percentage rose in the second quarter of 2026 to 18.2%, according to European Commission figures, compared to a decline in Norway’s exports to 51.2%.

Algeria exports about 21 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy, which is the largest share Algeria exports abroad and to Europe in particular, followed by Spain with 12.8 billion cubic meters equivalent, followed by France with nearly 3.2 billion cubic meters equivalent, in addition to limited quantities for each of the United Kingdom, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic via Italy, as well as Portugal.

As for petroleum, Algeria is not among the major crude oil suppliers to the European Union like the United States, Kazakhstan, or Norway, as its share ranged between 2% and 10% of the Union’s needs for this material, and it is directed towards France, Spain, Germany, and Portugal.

Among the countries that requested to postpone the activation of the decision are Italy and Germany, which are partners of Algeria in gas exports, and they justified their positions by saying that the new rules might make relying on alternative gas suppliers more difficult starting from early next year, which could affect prices and supply security. France is also considered one of the supporters of the decision to postpone for one year.