Polish Orlen's profit fell by a third last year; it expects volatile oil product prices

Polish petrochemical group Orlen, which owns Czech refinery company Unipetrol and a network of filling stations, reported a 31 percent drop in consolidated unaudited net profit last year to 27.57 billion zlotys (CZK 161.5 billion). The company said this today in a report on its financial results. It also forecast that refining margins could fall this year.

„In the group's view, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine will continue to affect the macroeconomic situation in Poland and around the world, causing fluctuations in the prices of refinery and petrochemical products and raw materials, including oil and gas, energy and CO2 emission allowances,“ the company said.

„The impact on margins is currently difficult to define,“ it added.

Orlen operates refineries in Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic. Since 2018, the company has been the sole owner of Czech petrochemical group Orlen Unipetrol, which also includes the Benzina Orlen filling station network. Orlen's fourth-quarter profit fell 61 percent year on year to 7.27 billion zlotys (CZK 42.6 billion).

Orlen also said that, among the countries where it operates, fuel consumption rose year on year in the fourth quarter only in Hungary and Poland. The company attributes this to growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in those countries toward the end of last year. The Slovak economy also grew, but fuel consumption in Slovakia fell toward the end of last year. The Czech economy stagnated and fuel consumption fell by one percent year on year.

Petrochemical and refining group Orlen Unipetrol's net profit fell last year to CZK 5.2 billion from CZK 17.9 billion a year earlier. The company's revenue also fell year on year, by a fifth to CZK 166.4 billion. The group processed 7.5 million tonnes of oil last year, a similar amount to 2022.