Poland’s largest energy concern, the Orlen Group, noted a PLN 2.8-billion (EUR 600-million) net profit in the first quarter of 2022, up from PLN 1 billion (EUR 210 million) in the first quarter of 2021.
The rise was due to an improving macroeconomic environment, together with big increases in fuel consumption and pump prices year on year, after the lifting of restrictions related to the pandemic. Changes in EU valuations of CO2 forward contracts also played a role.
In the period, the group recorded a year-on-year increase in sales by 17 per cent, including gasoline by 33 per cent, diesel by 21 per cent, LPG by 31 per cent, JET aviation fuel by 153 per cent and heavy fuel oil by 35 per cent. The oil sector was also boosted by the highest-ever Brent/Ural differential and the weakening of the zloty against the dollar.
The company said in a statement that in the first quarter of 2022, the group ceased execution of spot orders for Urals crude oil, while increasing the supply of crude oil from alternative sources, including Saudi Arabia, the US, West Africa and Norway. As a result, at the end of the first quarter, the share of alternative types of crude oil being processed by the Orlen Group increased to about 70 per cent.