By Valerie Volcovici
BAKU, Azerbaijan (Reuters) - President Joe Biden’s administration has asked the European Union to ensure liquefied natural gas shipments that meet U.S. methane regulations automatically comply with Europe’s standards for imports, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Linking U.S. and EU methane standards would safeguard United States’ growing LNG trade with Europe while also cementing Biden’s methane rules, even if they are eventually repealed by President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
"We understand that this process will take time. However, we would like to begin discussions as soon as possible, to ensure the continued reliable and stable supply of natural gas from the United States to Europe," the U.S. officials wrote in an Oct. 28 letter, just days before Trump’s decisive win in the Nov. 5 election.
The letter was signed by Brad Crabtree, head of the Department of Energy’s fossil energy office, and Joe Goffman, head of the Environmental Protection Agency's air office, and addressed to the European Commission's top energy official Ditte Juul Jørgensen.
A European Commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for the EPA confirmed it sent the letter with the DOE and that the EU had confirmed receipt.
The United States is the world’s top oil and gas producer, and its exports of LNG surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led European countries to cut their dependence on Russian energy and seek other sources.
Methane, the main component in natural gas and LNG, is a powerful greenhouse gas and more than 150 countries, including the U.S. and EU members, have pledged to slash its emissions by 30% this decade to fight climate change.
European Union countries approved a law in May to impose methane emissions limits on Europe's oil and gas imports from 2030, pressuring international suppliers to cut leaks of the potent greenhouse gas during production and transport.
The EU has not yet designed the exact methane limits, or determined how another country's domestic methane regulations could be considered "equivalent" to its own.
The Biden Administration, meanwhile, passed rules late last year cracking down on U.S. oil and gas industry releases of methane, which are being administered by the EPA.
On Tuesday, it finalized a methane charge on large methane leaks at oil and gas facilities.
Trump has said he plans to reverse or revoke dozens of Biden administration regulations to ease burdens and costs for the US energy industry, with methane rules among the first likely targets. On Monday, he announced that ally and former New York lawmaker Lee Zeldin would be his EPA administrator, and said Zeldin would "ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses."
In August, 10 US-based trade groups including the Chamber of Commerce and American Petroleum Institute flagged concerns to EU officials about their methane-related import requirements.
"The importers failing to comply with these obligations might be prevented from importing their supplies to the EU, and therefore the EU’s security of supply could be severely impacted," they wrote in an Aug 2. letter.
Jonathan Banks, global director on methane at the Clean Air Task Force, an environmental group, said the EU's standards, along with others in the works, will require U.S. suppliers to clean up regardless of any U.S. regulatory rollbacks.
"Market access will be dictated by proof of low methane emissions," he said.