On 14 October 2026 the European Commission adopted a proposal to postpone, by one year, the parts of the EU Methane Regulation that bind importers of oil, natural gas and coal. On 21 October 2026 the European Parliament voted 341 to 225, with 6 abstentions, to back a longer postponement of three years rather than one. The file now moves to the Council, and until an amending regulation is published the deadlines currently in law still apply.
For anyone who specifies pipe for upstream gas systems, this is not a distant policy story. Regulation (EU) 2024/1787 reaches oil and fossil gas exploration and production, fossil gas gathering and processing, natural gas transmission and distribution, LNG terminals and facilities, and the coal sector, and it applies to methane emissions occurring outside the European Union when the fuel is placed on the EU market. The instrument that decides how much monitoring, leak detection and flaring control a piece of upstream hardware must be designed around is the instrument that eventually decides when that hardware is ordered.
What the regulation requires, and what the October moves would change
The importer obligations run in sequence: report methane-related data from exporting countries and companies from 2025, demonstrate that suppliers operate monitoring, reporting and verification systems equivalent to the EU ones from 2027, report the methane intensity of production from 2028, and demonstrate intensity below set maximum values from 2030. Article 27 is the provision that governs what importers must present, and it applies to contracts concluded or renewed on or after 4 August 2024.
| Importer obligation | Date in force now | Commission proposal, 14 Oct 2026 | Parliament position, 21 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Report methane-related data and information from exporting countries and companies | 2025 | Not addressed | Not addressed |
| Demonstrate equivalent monitoring, reporting and verification in the producing country, for contracts concluded or renewed on or after 4 Aug 2024 | 1 Jan 2027 | Postponed by one year | Extended to 31 May 2031 |
| Report the methane intensity of production | August 2028 | Postponed by one year, described by the Commission as a consequence of the MRV postponement | First report 5 August 2031, not 5 August 2029 |
| Demonstrate that methane intensity is below the maximum values set under Article 34 | 2030 | Not addressed | Not addressed |
Two things are worth noting about the Parliament position. First, it wants the extended timeline to apply to importers of all three fuels but not to oil, gas and coal from sanctioned countries, with those volumes reported separately including in mixed cargoes, and with the Commission maintaining an indicative list of the countries concerned. Second, it wants the Commission to report by 1 July 2029 on national penalty regimes, verifier accreditation, recognised compliance solutions, progress on the methane intensity methodology and maximum values, and the security of supply situation. Parliament handled the file under the urgent procedure and asked that the amending regulation enter into force the day after publication in the Official Journal. As of the vote, the file is in negotiation with the Council.
The obligations that reach the equipment itself
The import deadlines are the part that moves. The engineering obligations on operators do not move with them, and they are what actually shapes the hardware.
| Obligation | Requirement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Leak detection and repair programme | Operators submit a detailed LDAR programme for existing and new sites; type 1 and type 2 surveys are differentiated, with the fuller type 2 survey required initially | Regulation (EU) 2024/1787, Article 14 |
| Repair deadline | Repair or replacement immediately after detection, or as soon as possible thereafter, with evidence provided to justify any delay | EUR-Lex summary of the Regulation |
| Detection limits | Minimum detection limits and repair deadlines are set in the Regulation, with the technique thresholds for underground components determined in two steps | EUR-Lex summary; Regulation recitals 37 to 39 |
| Routine flaring | Prohibited. Flaring permitted only where re-injection, on-site use, storage or dispatch to a market are not feasible | Regulation, Article 15 |
| New flare stacks and combustion devices | Must be fitted with an auto-igniter or continuous pilot burner and have a destruction and removal efficiency by design of at least 99 per cent | EUR-Lex summary of the Regulation |
| New sites | Zero-emitting equipment to be used wherever possible | EUR-Lex summary of the Regulation |
In parallel, the Commission issued two Recommendations in July 2026 on compliance solutions and on penalties, and on 12 October launched a call for feedback on reporting templates for the implementing act. The Regulation also asks European standardisation bodies to develop standards covering emissions measurement and quantification, LDAR surveys and venting equipment, with the Commission empowered to impose mandatory technical requirements by delegated act if those standards do not arrive.
Where the alloy decision is actually made
It is worth being blunt about this. The Methane Regulation specifies no material, no wall thickness and no grade. It changes what an upstream system must be able to do, and therefore how much of the plant gets replaced or newly instrumented, but the alloy in the pipe is fixed by the ASME product specification and the service condition. The table below is the material reference for the systems this regulation reaches.
| Upstream system | Governing ASME product specification (Section II) | Grades available in that specification |
|---|---|---|
| Austenitic gas gathering and processing lines | SA-312/SA-312M | TP304, TP304L, TP316, TP316L |
| Low-temperature gas service | SA-333/SA-333M | Grade 6 at -50 F [-45 C], Grades 8 and 11 at -320 F [-195 C], Grades 3 and 4 at -150 F [-100 C] |
| Duplex line pipe and tube | SA-789/SA-789M | S31803, S32205 |
| Forged fittings and flanges | SA-182/SA-182M | F 51, F 53, F 60, F 316L |
| Nickel alloy line pipe and tube | SB-622 | UNS N10276 (C-276), UNS N06022 (C-22), UNS N06044, UNS N06007 |
| Cast valves and fittings | SA-403/SA-403M | WP316L, WP20CB, WP6XN, WP904L |
Everything in the nickel alloy pipe and tube categories we supply against those specifications is specified to the grade and the supplementary requirement, not to the regulation. If you are working from an Hastelloy C-276 seamless pipe product for a wet service line, the governing document is SB-622 and the UNS designation is N10276; if the duty is corrosive process liquid rather than gas, alloy 20 seamless pipe is a different alloy family with a different UNS number, and the two are not interchangeable on a datasheet.
What to do with this
Three practical consequences follow, and none of them requires waiting for the Council. First, if you hold long-lead upstream gas pipe, the compliance-driven retrofit wave you were planning around has moved: one year on the Commission text, three years on the Parliament position, and not yet settled. Second, the LDAR and flaring obligations are already in force and already shape the specification, so retrofit scope should be treated as live regardless of the importer deadlines. Third, if your order needs third-party witnessing on upstream material, settle that arrangement now, because witness and inspection points sit on the fabrication schedule rather than on the regulatory timetable.
For the material side of any upstream gas order, the fastest route to a defensible specification is to start from the service condition and the governing product specification rather than from the regulation. Send us the service description, the specification and grade you have in mind, the size range and the test package, and we will return a material recommendation with the relevant specification clauses attached.
Ask our sales team for a quotation on WhatsApp and telephone +86 186 2137 7760, or through our contact page. If you are specifying a grade for a gathering, processing or venting line and want the ASME clause behind it, ask for it in the enquiry and we will include it with the quote.
