We had known for several weeks that diesel could be bought for less than PLN 7 per litre. Readers informed us about it. It was possible, but not in Bolesławiec. Price reductions for this fuel reached the city of ceramics with a delay. Do you also get the impression that our stations react to increases immediately, but to reductions with a delay? But at last, the price of this fuel has fallen below PLN 7 here too.

So what are the current fuel prices in Bolesławiec?

On Friday (24 March), prices at the PKN Orlen station on Zgorzelecka Street were as follows:

  • Pb95 PLN 6.66
  • ON PLN 6.79
  • LPG PLN 3.14

And what are the average retail fuel prices* in Poland?

  • Pb95 PLN 6.62
  • ON PLN 6.81
  • LPG PLN 3.12

*- quotations according to the Polish Chamber of Liquid Fuels as of 23 March 2023.

Why do we give prices from a PKN Orlen station as an example?

The reason is simple. PKN Orlen is the largest fuel producer and seller in Poland. Therefore, fuel price levels in Poland, especially retail prices, are adjusted to Orlen's pricing policy. It is not difficult to notice that tankers belonging to various other concerns also leave Orlen's fuel depot on Kościuszki Street in Bolesławiec.

That is where they obtain fuel at wholesale prices and then adjust retail fuel prices at their own stations. Thus, if Orlen lowers or raises its prices, the rest of the concerns follow suit. Of course, there may be differences of a few groszy between stations, but Orlen sets the general price levels. The same was true of the holiday fuel promotion. Orlen launched it, and other concerns followed.

But why do we so often encounter a situation in which fuel in Bolesławiec is more expensive than at stations of the same concerns in other towns? We recall what the PKN Orlen and Lotos concerns answered our question about this situation in 2019:

Lotos Group:

Thank you very much for sharing your opinion with us about fuel price levels in the city of Bolesławiec. We greatly value all feedback, which gives us the opportunity to understand how the LOTOS station network is perceived from the point of view of our customers.

In response to your feedback, we inform you that retail fuel prices at stations are set in accordance with the Company's pricing strategy, which is individual for each location.

Pricing policy depends on the characteristics of the particular micro-market. In a changing environment, it is natural for fuel prices to vary at different stations and in different parts of the country.

PKN Orlen:

We kindly inform you that, when shaping its retail pricing policy, PKN ORLEN is guided exclusively by business considerations, macroeconomic conditions, and supply-and-demand relationships.

It means that fuel prices at stations depend to a large extent on independent macroeconomic factors, such as exchange quotations for finished fuel products, oil prices, and exchange-rate relationships.

Alongside these independent factors, local conditions in which a given facility operates are also important. These include differences in land prices, station operating and maintenance costs (e.g. wages), as well as differences in sales potential. The station's immediate competitive environment is also important.

For this reason, prices at individual stations may differ and are adjusted daily in response to changing local and macroeconomic conditions.

We would also like to point out that franchise stations are a separate case, as pricing decisions there are made exclusively by the facility owner.