Overview
- POLITICO reported that draft European Commission guidance would let countries grant case-by-case exemptions from methane penalties on security-of-supply grounds.
- The drafts point to three crisis levels in EU supply rules, including an early warning stage that can be triggered before an actual disruption.
- National authorities could suspend or cut fines using factors like cargo availability, import terminal capacity, and oil stockpile obligations.
- The Commission says it is not changing the law and is instead using flexibilities already written into the regulation, with the guidance still subject to revision.
- OilPrice, citing a document referenced by Reuters, says governments were told they could delay sanctions until supply risks ease, highlighting sharper pushback from industry, some EU countries, and the United States.