Companies in the Oil & Gas sector have been undergoing a major transformation process in recent years. While the sector continues to invest, there is an increasing need to direct efforts towards new technologies, products, and services focused on the opportunities arising from decarbonisation, a trend that also affects Basque companies in this field.

In this context, a decision was made at the last sector meeting last year to refocus the forum’s strategy and activities that had been implemented to date. This resulted in the Basque Energy Cluster working together with its member companies to arrive at the first meeting in 2024 with a new mission and vision for the forum, alongside new technological lines and a new activity plan.
Specifically, the following areas were proposed for new technological lines which were approved as the focus of the new Sector Forum: 1) Transition to hydrogen systems and technologies, with a focus on hydrogen from non-electrolytic sources; 2) Carbon capture, storage, use, and recovery; and 3) The circular economy in fuel production.

The new activity plan envisages actions in the following value propositions:

• Dynamisation of quarterly meetings, setting up of Working Groups, and general communication of the Sector Forum’s new approach.
• Definition of a technology roadmap to identify areas of common interest and promote R&D collaboration between different entities.
• Organisation of internationalisation activities and events within the framework of the new objectives.
• Creation of a new Strategic Monitoring area in line with the Forum’s new focus as part of the Cluster’s Strategic Monitoring System.

The new strategic direction will be further defined within the coming weeks and is to be approved by the Board of Directors. The aim is to start a new phase with the agreed approach after the summer.