New rules meant to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas pollution from oil and gas will be delayed until January 2027.

In a notice published July 31, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule to delay the implementation of most standards to better control methane from new oil and gas equipment by 18 months. It also gave states an additional 10 months to submit plans to control methane from hundreds of thousands of existing sources.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with 30 times the climate warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. Oil and natural gas systems are the largest source of methane in the U.S., accounting for 28 percent of emissions, according to the EPA. The Biden Administration issued the new methane control rules in March 2024.