Problems at the pump

Experts say that the government should rethink its involvement in the fuel market, and establish a logistics operator that would provide equal fuel-distribution services to all companies.

"Consolidating [fuel-distribution] assets, which are now in the hands of the Oil Pipeline Operation Company PrzyjaŸń (PERN), Naftobazy, and partially Orlen and Lotos is crucial if the state wants to influence fuel prices," says Arkadiusz Siwko, the president of Naftobazy. "The final price of fuel bought at petrol stations is directly proportional to the expansion of fuel-transmission logistics. We need to expand fuel bases as well as product pipelines. For the last 10 years not a single kilometer has been built," he adds.

The state, as the owner of PERN, is interested in charging more for fuel transmission, but as the owner of Lotos and Orlen it wants to pay less for the same service. The fuel bases belong to Naftobazy, a limited-liability company controlled by Nafta Polska and consequently also by the state. "Hence we have logistics backwardness. The same is with the development strategy of the sector," says Jacek Wróblewski, general director of the Polish Organization of Oil Industry and Trade (POPiHN).