Article 18 3

3.   Without prejudice to paragraph 4, reports containing information on quantification of methane emissions and, where pressure monitoring equipment exists, information on pressure monitoring from all inactive wells and temporarily plugged wells shall be submitted to the competent authorities by 5 May 2026 and by 31 May every year thereafter.

Those reports shall include quantification of methane emissions to air and to water and information on pressure monitoring, where applicable, using the standards or technical prescriptions established under Article 32. Until the date of application of those standards or technical prescriptions, operators and Member States, as applicable, shall follow state-of-the-art industry practices and use the best available technologies for the measurement and quantification of methane emissions.

Where operators or Member States report methane emissions within the framework of international or regional agreements to which the Union or the relevant Member State is a party, the reports referred to in this paragraph may include information reported within the framework of such agreements.

Reports concerning inactive wells and temporarily plugged wells located in Member States with 40 000 or more inactive wells, temporarily plugged wells and permanently plugged and abandoned wells combined shall be submitted by 12 months from the inclusion of each of the wells in the inventory and by 31 May every year thereafter.