Equinor executive says that the APPEC/EU methane emission law poses monitoring challenges.

The European Union's legislation imposing methane emission limits on Europe’s oil and gas imports will present monitoring challenges. A Norwegian oil executive said this at the APPEC on Tuesday event.

The EU approved the law in May. It will put pressure on international suppliers of greenhouse gases to reduce their leakage.

Simon James, vice-president and head of crude trade at Equinor, said: "You need to do a detailed monitoring...a precise monitoring of methane emission all the way up the value chain until the import."

What will happen to the markets when crude oil starts to arrive? You must report whether your methane monitor meets EU standards. This will affect grades and even some benchmark grades," said he.

"You can imagine how difficult it will be to monitor grades such as WTI which is now a part of the Brent Complex. It's going be interesting to watch how the industry and companies like yourselves react to these changes in what has become a benchmark, a very important and benchmark grade," said he. (Reporting and editing by Jacqueline Wong; Florence Tan, Reporting)

(source: Reuters)