65 percent of Poles believe that the drop in prices at Orlen stations is the result of the political decisions of the company, which helps Law and Justice in the election campaign – according to the latest Kantar survey for “Fakty” TVN and TVN24. 24 percent of respondents have the opposite opinion.
In the latest survey conducted by Kantar for “Fakty” TVN and TVN24, respondents were asked what is the reason for the drop in prices at Orlen stations. According to 65 percent of respondents, “this is the result of political decisions and the fact that Orlen is manipulating prices to help PiS win the elections.”
A different opinion is expressed by 24 percent of respondents who believe that the drop in prices “is the result of economic decisions – Orlen is guided by oil prices on world markets.”
The answer “I don’t know/it’s hard to say” was given by 11 percent of respondents.
The telephone survey was conducted by Kantar between October 2 and 4 on a nationwide, representative sample of 1,500 people over 18 years of age.
Falling prices on Orlen
At the beginning of 2023, Daniel Obajtek, the head of Orlen, argued that the company could not lower fuel prices because it would result in what happened in Hungary, where the government introduced and then suddenly abandoned setting the maximum price for a liter of gasoline and diesel oil. – You heard a few months ago that fuels should be regulated and cost PLN 5 per liter. If we regulated prices, there would be no imports to Poland. I gave the example of the Hungarian economy and I was not wrong. That’s what happened there. Manual control led to fuel shortages, said the head of the state-controlled giant.
However, it turned out that the closer to the parliamentary elections, the more and more favorable prices at Orlen stations are for customers. Fuel prices at Orlen – both wholesale and retail – have been falling for a month, despite the unfavorable situation on the markets.
Experts warn that such action before the elections may bring disastrous consequences in the future. However, the company itself has nothing to complain about in this matter and explained in response to TVN24 Biznes’s questions that “fuel prices, not only in Poland, but throughout Europe, depend on the quotations of finished fuel products on European stock exchanges.” “The price of a barrel of oil is only one of many factors influencing the final price of finished fuels (gasoline and diesel oil),” it added.
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This is not the first time that the issue of prices at Orlen has raised doubts among economists. At the turn of the year, higher VAT on fuels returned, and the fuel fee was also increased from January 1, 2023. But on December 31, 2022, wholesale fuel prices at PKN Orlen dropped sharply. The next day there was another reduction, and as a result, prices at gas stations did not change.
Main photo source: TVN24