Downstream

In 2025, the Polish fuel market remained strongly influenced by geopolitical and regulatory factors, including trends seen in previous years and new policy signals from the United States. EU sanctions on imports of crude oil and fuels from Russia and Belarus remained in force, necessitating further diversification of supply sources and increasing the role of feedstock from the Middle East, the United States and Africa. At the same time, the economic slowdown in Germany continued to put import pressure on the Polish market from that direction. Global markets were also affected by instability in the Middle East, in particular the ongoing tensions between Israel and Iran, the conflict in Gaza, threats to shipping in the Red Sea, and the risk of temporary supply constraints among OPEC+ countries, all of which added to crude oil price volatility. Another factor in 2025 was action taken by Donald Trump’s administration, resulting in tighter sanctions on Russia and economic pressure on selected countries already subject to restrictions. Tougher sanctions on Russia’s energy sector increased the geopolitical risk premium in the oil market, although Russia, as in previous years, largely maintained crude exports to Asia, chiefly to China and India. Fuel exports from Poland to Ukraine remained at a high level in 2025, making a significant contribution to the supply balance of domestic producers, including the ORLEN Group and other market participants.

In 2025, fuel consumption in Poland increased by 2.2% year on year, broadly in line with 2024. Gasoline consumption rose by 7.7% year on year, supported by lower inflation and the resulting increase in real wages. Diesel oil consumption edged up by 0.3% year on year. Consumption of light fuel oil fell by 4.5%, partly due to the high base in 2024 resulting from uncertainty over sanctions on gas imports from Russia. Market conditions in the aviation sector remained favourable, with consumption rising by 7.7% year on year.

In 2025, our Refining sales on the Polish market totalled 18,245 thousand tonnes, comparable with the previous year.

Sales of light distillates increased by 4% year on year, driven by higher sales of both gasoline and LPG. Sales of middle distillates rose by 1% year on year, reflecting broadly stable diesel oil sales and an 8% year-on-year increase in aviation fuel sales. Sales of heavy fuel oil in Poland were 3% lower year on year.

In 2025, both gasoline and diesel oil consumption in the Czech market increased by 1.5% year on year. The strongest growth was recorded in aviation fuel, with consumption up 4% year on year. The continued upward trend in aviation fuel demand pushed consumption above the record level seen before the pandemic in 2019. Rising consumption was supported by favourable macroeconomic conditions in the Czech Republic, with GDP growing at 2.3%, 1.1 percentage points higher than in 2024.

Refining sales in the Czech market fell by 6% year on year. Gasolines sales were down by 9% and diesel oil sales down by 7% year on year, partly due to supply constraints. in the first half of 2025, ORLEN Unipetrol’s production was affected by prolonged maintenance shutdowns at the Kralupy and Litvínov refineries, and in the third quarter it was limited by power supply interruptions and failures at the petrochemical complex. In addition, supplies of Russian crude oil via the Druzhba pipeline were halted from the beginning of March 2025. During the transition period before increased transmission capacity on the TAL/IKL pipeline became available in May, the refineries relied on crude oil from strategic reserves. The external environment was not supportive either, with an oversupply of diesel oil in the region and pressure from local importers in the Czech market, as well as in the export markets of Slovakia and Hungary. The largest import volumes came from Germany, which further strengthened its dominant position compared with the previous year. Despite these supply-side challenges, we continued deliveries to the Czech market and export markets, both in the wholesale channel and for the Group’s own retail network in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany and Austria. Furthermore, ORLEN Unipetrol executed intra-group transfers to the Polish market, aiding in the optimisation of the Group’s product balance.

In 2025, we also continued A-1 aviation fuel sales at the Prague airport and obtained a licence for providing into-plane refuelling services at that location. The services will be launched on 1 January 2026. The company recorded a 2% year-on-year increase in Jet A-1 aviation fuel sales.

In 2025, key macroeconomic indicators improved, particularly in Latvia and Estonia, where GDP had contracted the year before. The stronger macroeconomic backdrop was reflected in fuel consumption. Gasoline consumption rose by 2% year on year. In Latvia, it increased by 5% year on year, while diesel oil consumption was up 1.4%. In Estonia, gasoline consumption was only slightly below the previous year’s level, while diesel oil consumption rose by 2% year on year. All three markets also recorded strong growth in the consumption of aviation fuel. The exception was diesel oil consumption in Lithuania, which fell by around 13% year on year, mainly due to the unprecedented increase in excise duty introduced at the beginning of 2025 (up EUR +110 per 1,000 litres). As a result, the enduser price of the product became the highest in the region, prompting consumers to seek more costeffective alternatives. The Baltic markets were also affected by a regional oversupply. Higher fuel excise duties across all Baltic markets and in Ukraine constrained consumption in the first quarter of 2025, but conditions improved later in the year, with sales rising as customers gradually ran down inventories built up in 2024.

In 2025, ORLEN Lietuva reported a 10% year-on-year growth in Refining sales, which reached 5,622 thousand tonnes. Gasoline sales expanded by 38% year on year, reflecting the upward trend in consumption of this fuel, supported by rising sales of vehicles with spark-ignition gasoline engines, including hybrid vehicles. Meanwhile, sales of diesel oil were down 1% year on year. Bitumen sales increased by around 37% year on year in 2025, reaching a record level. ORLEN Lietuva successfully completed a project to build a unit for the physical blending of SAF biofuel with Jet A-1. After the process was launched in September, it achieved the required 2% SAF content target for all aviation customers in the Baltic region.

We continued supplying fuels to the Ukrainian market from both Lithuania and Poland. In 2025, we sold record-high volumes of gasoline and diesel oil from our refineries in Lithuania and Poland, significantly exceeding 2.2 million tonnes. As a result, the ORLEN Group became the largest fuel supplier in that market. In April 2025, we successfully launched sales of E5 gasoline, which led to a significant increase in sales volumes of this fuel. We also made the first-ever deliveries of Jet A-1 aviation fuel from the Płock refinery. Alongside fuel sales, we are also active in the bitumen and lubricant segments. There is growing interest in expanding cooperation with the ORLEN Group in refining, petrochemicals, upstream and energy.

ORLEN Lietuva was an important contributor to balancing shortages in the Polish market. Significant quantities of diesel oil and gasolines were delivered in 2025 both via land, through the Mockava transshipment terminal, and by sea.

In 2025, sales volumes of our key petrochemical products, including monomers, polymers, aromatics, fertilisers, plastics and PTA, totalled 3,128 thousand tonnes, down 17% year on year. The sharpest declines were recorded in plastics (down 24% year on year) and PTA (down 29% year on year), driven by production issues, lower demand from European customers, and intensifying competition from imports.

Fertiliser sales fell by 17% year on year in 2025, mainly due to the shutdown of the ammonium sulphate plant at Spolana in the Czech Republic.

2025 was marked by a challenging market environment, which led to lower contract and spot prices and, as a result, affected our ability to achieve target margins and place higher volumes on the market. Customers for our petrochemical products include Polish and international manufacturing companies operating across Europe. These products are used in most key industries, including construction, textiles, packaging and automotive.