Gas Made from Farm Leftovers: Ukraine’s Biomethane and Its Export Rules

Fermenting livestock manure and crop residues produces a gas rich in methane. Refining this to give it the same properties as natural gas produces biomethane. Because it can be sent through the same pipelines as natural gas, Ukraine has begun efforts to send it across the border to Europe.

According to the Ministry of Energy, in February 2025 biomethane was sent by pipeline between Ukraine and the EU for the first time. The first shipment was 67,000 cubic meters. In an announcement of February 20, 2026, the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine (Derzhenerhoefektyvnosti) stated that the total volume of exports, which began in 2025, had exceeded approximately 11.2 million cubic meters. This article looks, using the text of the law and government publications as of September 2026, at what the law calls “biomethane” and what conditions it sets for exports. It does not introduce specific companies or investments.

How Biogas and Biomethane Differ Under the Law

Both terms are defined in Article 1 of the Law “On Alternative Fuels.” Biogas is “a gas obtained from biomass and used as fuel.” Biomethane is a subset of it, referring to biogas that meets the standards for natural gas.

biomethane – biogas which, by its physical and chemical characteristics, meets the requirements of the legal and regulatory acts for natural gas for delivery into the gas transmission or gas distribution system or for use as motor fuel;

Law of Ukraine “On Alternative Fuels,” Article 1 (version as of March 11, 2026; translated from the Ukrainian original)

This definition was added by Law No. 1820-IX of October 21, 2021. The same law also inserted into the Law on the Natural Gas Market a provision that “the provisions of this Law concerning natural gas shall apply on a non-discriminatory basis to biogas” meeting the standard.

What Is the Feedstock?

The “Program for the Development of Biomethane Production up to 2035” (Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 514), adopted by the government on April 22, 2026, describes the feedstock as “waste and residues of agricultural production (crop and livestock farming).” Citing State Statistics Service figures as of October 1, 2025, it gives a planted crop area of 23.4 million hectares (excluding occupied territory), 2.083 million head of cattle, 4.839 million pigs, 0.92 million sheep and goats, and 209.307 million head of poultry, and states that wheat straw, corn stalks, and livestock manure serve as feedstock.

The same program states, as a producers’ calculation, that 1 cubic meter of cattle manure can yield 35–40 cubic meters of biomethane, and pig manure about 18 cubic meters. The scale of the grain harvest is covered in our article on harvest figures.

Timeline: From the Law’s Enactment to the First Export

Date	Event	Basis
October 21, 2021	Law No. 1820-IX. Establishes the definition of biomethane, the register, and the “guarantee of origin”	Text of the law
July 22, 2022	The procedure for the register is decided. Holder and administrator: the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving	Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 823
February 2023	A memorandum on a strategic partnership with the EU on biomethane, hydrogen, and other gases is signed	Ministry of Energy announcement (February 7, 2025)
March 20, 2024	Law No. 3613-IX. Sets the conditions and customs clearance for pipeline exports (took effect May 16, 2024)	Text of the law
September 2024	The customs clearance procedure under Ministry of Finance Order No. 380 takes effect	Ministry of Energy announcement (February 7, 2025)
February 2025	First pipeline export to the EU. 67,000 cubic meters	Ministry of Energy announcement (February 7, 2025)
2025–	Total exports exceed approximately 11.2 million cubic meters (as of the February 20, 2026 announcement)	State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving (February 20, 2026)
February 20, 2026	Official launch of the register’s operation	State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving
April 22, 2026	The Development Program to 2035 is adopted	Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 514

As the timeline shows, the first export took place a year before the register’s official operation began. Under the text of the law, the “transitional measure” discussed in the next section provides a route for exporting without using the register’s guarantee of origin.

The Rules for Exports

Law No. 3613-IX of March 20, 2024, added Article 8-3 to the Law “On Alternative Fuels,” setting out the conditions for pipeline exports.

The export of biomethane crossing the customs border of Ukraine by pipeline transport is carried out by biomethane producers for whom an account has been created in the biomethane register provided for in Article 8-1 of this Law, and who are connected to the gas transmission or gas distribution system using an automatic flow analyzer (automatic chromatograph) and a gas metering unit.

Law of Ukraine “On Alternative Fuels,” Article 8-3(1) (version as of March 11, 2026; translated from the Ukrainian original)

In other words, exports of biomethane crossing the border by pipeline may only be carried out by producers who hold an account in the register and are connected to the transmission or distribution system with the required metering equipment. The same article limits exports to the volume the producer has generated entirely within Ukraine, and makes them conditional on submitting to customs the information in that volume’s “guarantee of origin.”

On customs clearance, the same law added paragraph 5 to Article 232 of the Customs Code, providing that customs control and clearance of biomethane crossing the border by pipeline is “carried out under the procedure established for natural gas.”

The Transitional Measure Until the Register Connects to the EU

The law’s transitional provisions set out two conditional arrangements. One provides that, until the register is connected to the EU’s database (the Union database) and Ukraine’s guarantees of origin are recognized by the EU, a producer may export by submitting to customs a “certificate of conformity with sustainability criteria” and a “Proof of Sustainability” for that volume, in place of the register’s guarantee of origin. As of September 2026, this transitional measure remains in the text of the law.

The other applies while a government decision banning or quota-limiting natural gas exports is in effect. During such a period, biomethane that can be exported by pipeline is limited to “the volume the operator held in Ukraine’s gas storage facilities at the end of the month preceding the export.” The government, in Resolution No. 1795 of December 31, 2025, set the 2026 export quota for Ukrainian-origin natural gas at 0 cubic meters, which can be read as meaning 2026 falls under this restriction.

Old Term, Current Term: From “Cancellation” to “Redemption” of a Guarantee

In the mechanism for certifying the use of biomethane, once a guarantee of origin has been used up, a “certificate of origin” is issued in its place. The text of the 2021 law described the procedure for using up a guarantee as “anuliuvannia” (cancellation, rendering void). As of September 2026, the text describes the same procedure as “pohashennia” (redemption, extinguishment).

In the government’s procedure for the register (Resolution No. 823), too, Resolution No. 828 of July 14, 2025, replaced every instance of “anuliuvannia” in the text with “pohashennia.”

How Many Plants Are There, and What Can They Produce?

The Figures Differ Between Sources

The number and capacity of biomethane plants differ even between documents from the same government.

• State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving (February 20, 2026): Seven biomethane plants are currently operating in Ukraine, with a combined capacity of over 110 million cubic meters a year. In mid-2025, four facilities were connected to the gas network, with a capacity of about 41 million cubic meters a year.
• The Cabinet’s program (April 22, 2026): Five plants began operating in 2023–2025, with a combined capacity of 52 million cubic meters a year. If the eight plants under construction come online in 2026–2028, capacity will increase by about 100 million cubic meters a year.

The former can be read as counting “plants currently operating,” and the latter as counting “plants that began operating in 2023–2025,” but neither document explains its method of counting.

Whose Figure Is “One of Europe’s Leading Potentials”?

The phrase “one of Europe’s leading potentials” is often used for Ukraine’s biomethane. The underlying figures differ roughly tenfold depending on who is citing them.

• The Cabinet’s program: Using the crops and livestock in the statistics as feedstock, and other conditions being equal, approximately 2.1 billion cubic meters a year could be produced. Targets are over 1 billion cubic meters a year by 2030 and approximately 2.1 billion cubic meters a year by 2035.
• The Bioenergy Association of Ukraine (UABIO, an industry association; summary of a booklet dated November 20, 2025): Potential is at least 21.8 billion normal cubic meters a year (as methane). Production could be increased to as much as 20 billion cubic meters a year, and if half were exported, export revenue could reach up to €9 billion.

The government’s program also notes that the EU has a target of increasing biomethane production to 35 billion cubic meters a year by 2030. However, this article could not find an official document comparing, on a consistent basis, where Ukraine’s potential ranks within Europe.

What Remains on the EU Side

For exported biomethane to be counted as “renewable gas” in an EU country, procedures on the EU side are also required. The government’s program lists, as tasks for the first phase (2026–2027), full connection to the EU database and establishing the guarantee-of-origin mechanism, and states that these are premised on a “political decision” by the European Commission.

The fixed-price purchase scheme for renewable electricity is covered in our article on the green tariff, and the move to expand small power plants is covered in our article on distributed generation.