Poland’s largest refiner, PKN Orlen has been forced to lower prices of its petrol and diesel products after a drastic drop in sales noted in January.

Both petrol and diesel offered at all of Orlen’s 1714 filling stations across the country are to drop below 5 zloty (1.28 euro), including the refiner’s premium brands.

The sudden price drop has surprised a number of analysts, which point to a rise in global oil prices, with a barrel costing over 100 US dollars on some indexes this week due to civil unrest in Egypt.

However, the reason for the price cuts can be pinned to falling sales, as estimated figures show that petrol and diesel consumption in January fell by as much as 10 percent than during the same period in 2010.

“In January drivers markedly restricted their vehicle usage, as petrol prices crossed the 5-zloty mark, a price which seems to have proven a sort of psychological barrier,” Krzysztof Romaniuk, the director of the Polish Organisation of Oil Industry and Trade told the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily, Wednesday.

Analysts point to other companies following suit. Even though the wholesale price cuts are the fifth for petrol and the fourth for diesel this year, in the same period petrol and diesel themselves have gone up in price threefold and fourfold respectively. (jb)