Three weeks ago, our MEPs, Adrian Zandberg and Magdalena Biejat, together with the economist Marcin Szost, decided to use their powers to check why margins in Orlen are horrendously high.

Is Orlen hiding something? Why are petrol prices in Poland rising the fastest in the entire European Union? On May 27, unfortunately, we were sent away with a receipt from the Orlen headquarters, invited in a few weeks and given on a note... e-mail to Daniel Obajtek. On Tuesday, June 14, we knocked on the door of Orlen's management again.– During the meeting of the management of PKN Orlen, it confirmed that the company has record profits – said Adrian Zandberg, MP of Razem, in front of the PKN Orlen headquarters. "The company's management has said directly that gasoline prices are currently detached from its production costs. In short, when determining prices, the company is guided not by the cost of production, but by what it is on a given day or in a given week, dictated also by speculative movements, the price of the finished product on world markets. We will not tell fairy tales that the price can be reduced to 5 zlotys. However, from the analyses that we brought with us, as well as our conversation – although we had a dispute with the company's management here – it appears that there is room to reduce the price of gasoline by this zloty. "We have heard a declaration of such satisfaction that the situation on the fuel market allows Orlen to generate these record profits," Zandberg continued. "The company's management also sees other places where it wants to spend these record profits than to relieve people who today curse when they see the price of gasoline at stations. I urge Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to meet with the leadership of Orlen and listen to the same information that we heard today. About record profits, which the company does not want to share with Poles. I think that the head of the government will not be satisfied with these declarations, and it is he who has the keys to influence Orlen, to reduce these prices and margins, so that the price of gasoline ceases to be detached from the real costs of its production, and begins to be adapted to the wallets of Polish women and Poles. Orlen recorded a net profit of PLN 2.8 billion. This is 47 percent more than a year ago. The quarterly report of this company shows that in the first three months of this year, the company's margins on gasoline processing went up by several hundred percent year on year, and on diesel processing by as much as 80 percent. – We did not receive information on the costs of technical production of fuels. We do not know what was the difference between the beginning of the year, before the war – said Marcin Szost, economist, analyst and member of Razem. – Probably these costs have increased due to the prices of the raw material, but the other costs are probably not very different. Thus, the increase in prices is not justified by the increase in costs. The management of Orlen itself admitted that prices at the stations are detached from costs. We hear contradictory messages, on the one hand Orlen claims that it has record profits, on the other hand, that it has a minimum margin, and on the other hand, it claims that prices must be raised to limit demand. – We have heard many round words, but very few that would indicate any social sensitivity, Orlen management and responsibility for what is happening on the Polish fuel market – said MP Magdalena Biejat. – The company's management tried to convince us today that it does not have much influence on how fuel prices are shaped in Poland! This sounds quite radical and controversial in the case of a company that is a hegemon in this market and can shape the prices we face when we refuel. I would like to remind you that today for many Poles this is the only option, because they cannot change to the bus, because public transport in Poland, especially in smaller towns, does not work. So if anyone wants to get to the doctor, to school or to work – they have to refuel at the gas station. It is the responsibility of Orlen – the parent company on this retail and wholesale market – to do something about it. We have not been convinced, we have not been presented with sufficient data to show that prices are rising less than other countries in our region. We are not satisfied. We call on the government to finally do something about high fuel prices. We are talking here about the quality of life and everyday functioning. Adrian Zandbergparcensdaniel obajtekinflacjalewicamagdalena biejatmarcin szostorlensejm