Almost every day, ORLEN faced alerts from the retail director about economically unjustified and harmful actions that cost the company millions and lacked any sensible guidelines for setting fuel prices. These were the events surrounding ORLEN during Jacek Krawiec’s presidency in the 2011 parliamentary campaign.
In 2011, Donald Tusk, running on the slogan “Let’s not do politics, let’s build…,” led the Civic Platform to a second term as Poland’s governing party. The elections on October 9 followed a long period of strong price promotions at ORLEN stations.
Today it is widely acknowledged that artificially maintaining fuel prices cost the company hundreds of millions of PLN, a policy reportedly pursued under the orders of ORLEN’s CEO Jacek Krawiec.
The retail executive director at the time, Marek Podstawa, repeatedly sought permission to raise fuel prices in emails, but those requests went unanswered. He directed his messages to Grażyna Piotrowska-Oliwa, who oversaw sales on the ORLEN board and included Jacek Krawiec in copies.
The response before the elections remained consistently the same: there was no permission to increase wages. As a result of this policy, ORLEN logged its largest losses from September 6 to 28, 2011, with the most pronounced impact on E95 gasoline. For instance, on September 12, each liter of this fuel sold at ORLEN stations produced an 8 PLN loss.
Emails cited by the weekly magazine Sieci reveal the following:
September 13, 2011 at 4:00 PM – Retail Executive Director Marek Podstawa asks to raise the price to at least PLN 5.19 per liter for gasoline and diesel with octane 95. September 13, 2011 at 4:53 PM – Grażyna Piotrowska-Oliwa replies that there is no authorization to raise prices.
This exchange is just one of many similar messages available to the editorial team, showing that the pricing at stations before the 2011 elections was set manually by the president, despite employee warnings about negative margins.
Now the price could climb to PLN 7
The issue of manual price setting by Krawiec ahead of the 2011 elections drew brief media attention in 2014 when the weekly Wprost published reports about eavesdropping at the Sowa restaurant & Friends.
During one captured exchange between Donald Tusk’s ally Paweł Graś and Jacek Krawiec, the ORLEN president reportedly admitted that just after the 2011 elections the Prime Minister indicated that “gasoline can now cost 7 PLN.” This remark implied that prices at gas stations were intentionally lowered before the elections. Unofficially, it is understood that an internal ORLEN audit conducted in 2018 examined this issue. The audit reportedly showed that, before the 2011 elections and with management’s consent and knowledge, including the president, prices were driven below profitability, exposing the company to losses.
The audit also confirmed that those responsible for sustaining fuel sales profitability informed the president of the results, but no price adjustments were approved in the run-up to the elections.
Twelve years later, Jacek Krawiec speaks publicly with little hesitation in interviews:
“If we look back, ORLEN did not have a pricing policy under Mr. Obajtek. It was replaced by what I call a call from a friend from Nowogrodzka Street or the politics of doing the right thing by PiS. Using a negative margin is mismanagement and harms the company. These are crimes under the Criminal Code.”
This excerpt comes from a recent Forbes interview with Krawiec. Some readers may doubt the accuracy or fairness of the portrayal, while others question the memory of certain events.
The numbers don’t lie
Meanwhile, it is noted that Jacek Krawiec’s tenure did not significantly boost ORLEN’s development potential, and his compensation remained high even as some criticized the current leadership. This observation surprises many observers who once supported the governing bloc, especially those who value concrete results over political loyalties.
“ORLEN earned roughly PLN 5 billion during the eight-year period under the governance of PO and Mr. Krawiec. In 2018, before acquisitions, Obajtek’s leadership reported earnings exceeding PLN 7 billion, and in 2022 earnings reached PLN 42 billion. Are there any other questions or comments?”
These remarks are part of broader online discussions that reflect political divisions, with some commenters openly aligning with alternative camps online.
There is a real concern that Jacek Krawiec’s recent media activity might be tied to a desire to return to ORLEN’s presidency. The potential implications of a reunion between Tusk and Krawiec at the helm of Poland’s leading company are debated by observers who consider the company’s trajectory during its peak years.
ZB, secondary school