Fuel prices are lower than in record times, when they reached eight zlotys, now they are definitely below seven, they are lower than in Lithuania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, this is criticized by the opposition, Petr Muller said.
Government spokesman Piotr Müller said on the Graffiti program on Polsat News that Orlen cannot be said to be a monopoly because there are other companies on the market. He also commented on allegations that Orlen did not lower the wholesale price in 2022, although it could, and did so only on January 1, 2023, when the VAT rate on fuel returned to 23 percent. As a result, fuel prices for drivers, although burdened by a higher tax, have not changed.
Petr Müller on fuel prices at Orlen station
“We have a situation where fuel prices are lower than at record times when they reached eight zlotys, now they are definitely below seven, they are lower than in Lithuania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, this is criticized by the opposition,” he said. “I understand that they expected some kind of catastrophe to happen on January 1st, and they would get political fuel from it. Unfortunately for them, this did not happen.
However, interviewer Grzegorz Kempka suggested that the allegations showed that fuel prices were “artificially kept high”.
- Purchases of fuel occur on individual cycles, - said the representative of the government. - It is kept, it is bought in bulk, this is Orlen’s policy in terms of pricing policy. It’s good that they softened these changes in relation to VAT, said Petr Müller.
Orlen made money on drivers, but under certain conditions
Similarly, the preservation of prices from 2022 was explained in an interview with Wprost journalist Piotr Kuczynski, an analyst at Dom Inwestycyjny Xelion. - Of course, I hear voices that PKN Orlen made money on us. He may have actually made money, but assuming he was producing fuel from oil bought in October or November (more or less since October the złoty has been strengthening and the price of crude oil has been falling). If he bought it, for example, four months ago, he no longer looks like this - emphasizes the economist.
“How it happened in reality, no one knows. My guess is that when it comes to production, it doesn’t work like this: today I have a world market price of $80 per barrel, and Orlen takes this price for calculations. The company is likely using the price at which it bought the oil, i.e. the price four months ago, when the zloty was much weaker and crude oil more expensive. Thus, Orlen can defend himself by saying that he sells oil from old stocks when it was more expensive - he adds.
Source: Wprost
