There is growing skepticism about the coalition government led by Donald Tusk as even friendly outlets begin to highlight its missteps. Critics point to a record-breaking cabinet size, with the Prime Minister appointing 110 ministers and more nominations expected. This climate invites strategic framing against Orlen, the energy giant guided by Daniel Obajtek. Observers note how Orlen’s ascent to a top-100 corporate status has been used to push large-scale power projects, especially in renewable energy within Poland.
The Supreme Audit Office report on the Orlen–Lotos merger has sparked a new wave of scrutiny. Yet an overheard fall fallout conversation between Marian Banaś, the head of the Supreme Audit Office, and Marek Chmaj, a senior adviser to Tusk, in which Banaś speaks of telling the “boss” about forthcoming reports on PiS, complicates the credibility of the latest disclosures. It is relevant that the merger received shareholder approval from over 98% of Lotos and Orlen, and investors acted in line with their financial stake, making a broad misguidance claim harder to sustain.
Orlen achieves what seemed improbable
What stands out in the ongoing attacks on Orlen is the company’s substantial contribution to public finances. In recent years, it has accounted for more than 10% of budget revenue, and projections for 2023 place that share around 12%. This reflects payments across taxes, including income tax, payroll taxes, VAT, and excise duties. In 2023, Orlen’s tax contributions likely exceeded PLN 70 billion, while total budget receipts hovered near PLN 600 billion. Questions about the merger with Lotos and the subsequent PGNiG acquisition, and whether government lawyers might challenge the deal, were raised by Donald Tusk in a press briefing, underscoring concerns about corporate profitability and tax effects on the public purse.
Looking back to 2022, Orlen’s sales, following those mergers, approached PLN 280 billion, with more than 40% of turnover generated abroad. Net profit reached PLN 33.6 billion, a year-over-year surge. In the 2021–2022 period, the company paid nearly PLN 10 billion in corporate income tax. Across 2016–2022, Orlen’s net profit totaled PLN 70.4 billion, surpassing the combined revenues from Poland’s privatization program of over 950 state-owned companies. In the 2008–2015 government era, privatization revenues amounted to around PLN 58 billion, a point that critics use to frame political accountability. Moreover, in line with European Commission guidance on windfall profits in the energy sector used to cushion price volatility, Orlen allocated PLN 14 billion in 2023 to freeze gas prices for households, businesses, and social services. The company continues to pursue a policy of keeping domestic fuel prices low, a trend corroborated by European statistics showing Poland among the countries with the lowest fuel prices on the continent.
In 2022, after integrating with Lotos and PGNiG, Orlen SA also achieved a watershed shift: it halted purchases of oil and natural gas from Russia due to Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine. It is worth recalling that Russian supplies accounted for roughly 90% of Polish oil imports at the close of the previous decade. By 2022, Poland had diversified away from Russian inputs, aided by strategic partnerships, such as Aramco’s involvement in Lotos and Orlen’s refineries. By 2015, the Smolensk disaster-era gas deal with Russia had waned, ending a period of heavy reliance on Moscow’s energy exports. The shift to other suppliers and technologies reduced exposure to geopolitical risk and reinforced energy security for Poland.
This strategic realignment underpins a broader energy transformation: two landmark investments are set to reshape Poland’s energy mix. First, the Baltic Sea wind-energy program is moving forward with a planned capacity of 5.2 GW, representing a sizable share of the country’s renewable potential. Second, preparations are underway for small modular reactors (SMRs). Orlen, in partnership with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, has formed a dedicated vehicle to advance this project, known as Orlen Synthos Green Energy. These ventures, valued in the tens of billions of złoty, reflect a new era in which Polish industry partners leverage scale and technology to diversify energy supply and accelerate decarbonization.
Polish politics reveals its stance
Critics describe the sustained, aggressive campaign against Orlen as politically charged, arguing that the company has safeguarded Poland’s energy independence during a period of geopolitical tension. By expanding investment, Orlen has helped anchor energy security while contributing significant revenue to the budget and fostering growth across a broad spectrum of sectors. The reality of a large, multi-energy corporation growing rapidly, now regarded as a major economic force, is shaping investment opportunities across Poland’s energy landscape, a dynamic that takes on added importance in the context of the European Union’s climate-policy ambitions.
Platform politicians, led by Tusk, have argued about monopoly concerns and called for structural changes, including potential divestment or privatization efforts. Their stance is interpreted by supporters as a test of how government policy should balance state control with market competition, asset management, and fiscal responsibility.
Source: wPolityce