How a French Oil Executive Is Working With the Trump Administration to 'Kill' Europe's Methane Plan

A TotalEnergies executive has been coordinating with the Trump administration to delay the European Union's Methane Regulation, according to an investigation by DeSmog, Vert, and EUobserver. François-Régis Mouton, who serves as the Europe managing director for the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) on assignment from TotalEnergies since 2018, met with U.S. federal officials at least three times in the past 14 months to discuss the regulation. In October 2025, Mouton briefed the White House's National Energy Dominance Council on how the IOGP could "work together to address and remove regulatory barriers such as…the #EUMethaneRegulation," according to LinkedIn posts by Mouton and the council's executive director Jarrod Agen.

U.S. officials have since echoed IOGP arguments for delay. In an April 27 op-ed in the Financial Times, U.S. Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder warned the regulation "could spark an energy crisis." Puzder's office sent an email to EU member states on October 20 using similar language about threats to gas supplies. The U.S. has been on track to eclipse Norway as Europe's biggest natural gas supplier since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and TotalEnergies imports more American LNG to Europe than any rival, according to Oil Change International.

On Friday, the Council of the European Union endorsed a European Commission proposal for a one-year delay of the rules, originally due to take effect January 1, 2027. The Council must now negotiate with the European Parliament, which has voted for a three-year delay amid industry lobbying. The IOGP — whose members include ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, and Shell — says it backs methane regulation in principle but has spearheaded calls for a three-year delay to clarify rules.

A study by Berlin-based think tank DIW, funded by the European Climate Foundation, found rapid implementation could avoid 80 million tonnes of methane emissions by 2050, preventing 155,000 premature deaths and producing €700 billion in benefits. A three-year delay would lead to 40,000 premature deaths and cost €185 billion in lost benefits. Methane has a heating effect more than 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide over 20 years.

The lobbying occurs despite TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné publicly backing the EU Methane Regulation and championing the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter, due for a status update at COP31 in Antalya, Turkey. Sources involved in industry discussions said TotalEnergies uses trade groups like IOGP to "work at arm's length to delay, weaken and ideally defeat the regulation altogether." One source said: "They are coming to kill this regulation."

Mouton has shared climate science-denial content on social media, including a link to a book titled "There is No Climate Apocalypse" in June 2025, and posts questioning human-caused climate change. He shared content from far-right French MEP Sarah Knafo and a page promoting Eric Zemmour, a politician convicted multiple times for racial discrimination. The IOGP declined interview requests and said it "never sought to weaken the Regulation's objective and has never called for it to be scrapped."