Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the conference call, which will be devoted to the performance of Grupa ORLEN, the ORLEN Group, after the third quarter of 2022. Today's speakers will include Janusz Szewczak, CFO, and Mr. Armen Artwich, Management Board Member for Corporate Affairs. A very good afternoon to you, I'll give the floor over to my fellow speakers.
Good afternoon, welcome to yet another conference call after the third quarter of 2022. Before I move on to a more in-depth discussion of the presentation and our performance, I would like to have a few words of introduction in order to do away with the myths and misconceptions that our corporation makes money on holes and their and their wallets. Our profit for the third quarter went down by nearly PLN 300 million year-on-year.
That is the truth we'll have to share with you, mainly based on a downward trend on margins on fuels going down by 30% in Poland. The stories about our enormous profits on margins are not true, especially that we can actually reveal the fact that the model margin, refining margin, which you hear about ever so often, it actually went down by 30% year-on-year. It shows clearly that this is a downward trend. One more thing about the sales of fuels on petrol stations in Poland, it is absolutely not the main factor in terms of our profits. It is only 4%, its contribution in to our profit is nearly 4% only. We're talking about non-fuel sales, hot dogs, coffee, non-alcoholic beverages, and sweets.
We are talking about the contribution of only 4% to our operating profit. More than or around one half of our profit came from foreign or non-Polish sales, actually. Even if we are supposed to take into account in comparison with 2012, so at 10 years back, based on the minimum wage in Poland, then it will turn out that we could buy actually 263 liters of fuel. We're talking about prices at around PLN 6 and the minimum price at around PLN 200 right now. We are talking about the purchasing power of around 300 or more than 300 liters of fuel. That is an increase of 50%. This actually shows quite clearly that the purchasing power of Poles went up quite considerably.
We have to remember about the margins, the fact is that fuel companies actually contribute to model refining margin to a very limited extent. The contribution actually is due to Ukraine-Russia war and the fact that we are departing or going away from imports from Russia and from the eastern direction in general. We have to remember about the one-offs as well, such as the bargain purchase of, or acquisition of the LOTOS Group, and the operating profit in the third quarter went down by 20%, disregarding those one-offs.
Due to the fact that this operating profit based on the bargain purchase of the LOTOS Group was at PLN 5.5 billion , and if we add PLN 2.3 billion of profit generated by the LOTOS Group, it will turn out that the operating profit for the ORLEN Group in general would add up to, in total, around 30 million PLN, which is up by around PLN 3 billion . This shows that we are growing in terms of our operations. We are upscaling, we're scaling up our business, and we are a multi-utility business. We have to remember that in terms of LIFO-based EBITDA, it went down by 20% quarter to quarter or quarter on quarter.
This is due to the macroeconomic environment that we operate in, because it has been very volatile, and we also see the signals of economic downtrend. As I said before, on slide number one, you can see that the operating margin went down. The refining margin, model refining margin, went down by 38% quarter-on-quarter, and the same applies to differential, going down by as much as 39% quarter-on-quarter. Model petrochemical margin went down as well by 18% quarter-on-quarter, but at the same time, the prices of natural gas went up by 102% quarter-on-quarter.
You can also see on this very slide that the GDP dynamics that is going down, not only in Poland, but in Europe or around the world actually. On the other hand, all those negative factors, we've been trying to offset them by increasing the utilization of refineries, going up by 13 percentage points quarter-on-quarter. Also, the nominal utilization level is as much as 98%, so almost 100%. Also, the positive contributor was higher at sales, going up by over 30% quarter-on-quarter. Last but not least, the element that we have already mentioned, the contributor, positive contributor that is the upscaling of our operations as a multi-utility group. There was a positive contribution or impact of the acquisition of the Grupa LOTOS, which came in at PLN 2.3 billion.
You can see the tables on the slide in terms of LIFO-based EBITDA for the third quarter. You have to remember about the adjusted EBITDA eliminating one-offs. We are talking about PLN 8.6 billion. We can sum it up by saying that we are on the safe side in terms of our financial strength, which will fuel our further growth, mainly based on our acquisition plans. We'll discuss it in detail later on. We also have reported cash flows from operations at PLN 9 billion, which is comparable to the previous quarter. Our CapEx in the third quarter came in at PLN 4.5 billion, and we are continuing our CapEx processes in the current quarter to come, in the fourth quarter.
What we find really important and what makes us very happy is the fact that our net debt went down by nearly PLN 7 billion quarter-on-quarter. We also reported a very low net debt to EBITDA indicator, which is at 0.09. This is an indicator that makes us really safe in considering that our strategy assumed a level of even 2.5. This clearly shows that we managed to eliminate our debt to a considerable extent. This is a proof, and this is a sign that we are very prudent in terms of our spending, not only in terms of our investments, but in general.
What makes us very happy as well, that is a very positive signal, is the fact that our investment grades went up to a historically unprecedented level in terms of ORLEN's investment grades. We are talking about A3 stable outlook for Moody's and BBB+ with a stable outlook from Fitch. These are record-breaking, as I said, unprecedented levels of confidence that is expressed by investment grade agencies. This is also a sign that our merger processes and M&A decisions were very, very successful, and that we have strong financial footing. On the other hand, we saw that our macro environment in the previous quarter went down or deteriorated quarter-on-quarter. As I said before, both model refining margin and the differential went down considerably. We're talking about a downward trend in petrochemical margins as well, going down by 20%.
All those stories and myths on gigantic and enormous margins are, simply speaking, not true. This translated into a downward trend in our EBITDA LIFO or operating profit going down by 20% quarter-on-quarter. As I said before, we tried to offset those trends by higher refining utilization capacity and capacity utilization. We're talking about a nearly 100 utilization level and an increase in sales, as I mentioned before, in the context or against the background of the consolidation of the results reported by our acquiree, that is the Grupa LOTOS Group, and also a consolidation of the structures of both companies.
As I said before, in terms of our financial footing, we are on the safe side still, but we see major threats related to recession in the economy that we can see and a downward trend in GDP, not only in Poland, but in general in Europe and around the world actually. Despite those factors, we are proceeding consistently with our CapEx processes, and we're trying to ensure energy security for Poland and for Poles as well as for our neighbors, because we are also present in terms of our operations in our neighboring markets. The planned CapEx is at more than PLN 15 billion for this year. Year to date, after 10 months of the year, almost 10 months of the year, we have already reported around PLN 11 billion in CapEx, of which, as I said before, 4.5 for quarter three alone.
We are expecting those spendings to go up next year. We are also planning an upgrade, modernization of our or upgrade of our strategy will, which will be announced early next year. You will see all those trends I've been talking about in this new upgrade, updated strategy. We are very happy, as I said, about the downward trend in net debt to EBITDA, net debt in general, quarter on quarter. It stabilized at the level of around PLN 5 billion. This is not a considerable debt level for a huge company as ours. As I said before, This performance, those performance figures have been noticed and duly estimated by rating agencies. We also finalized, in terms of key facts and figures of the third quarter, we have finalized the merger with the Grupa LOTOS.
It was also the merger with PGNiG Group was confirmed and accepted by extraordinary general meetings of both companies, with almost a 100% support from all shareholders. This is something that we should take pride in because it shows clearly that the shareholders of the respective companies, both companies, see that this is a well-grounded and a good decision to create, to merge both companies and create a multi-utility group. We acquired petrochemical assets from Basell Orlen Polyolefins with a yearly capacity of 100 tons of polyethylene, LDPE, that is low density polyethylene. We're also analyzing building of construction of additional capacities in polyethylene, of polyethylene in Płock. We are also continuing our talks with Saudi Aramco and SABIC on potential further cooperation in terms of petrochemical business.
Baltic Power signed a reservation agreement for transport and installation of offshore wind turbines and offshore substations, launched investments in Świnoujście. We're talking about installation terminal, installation port. We're very happy about that because this is a major investment in the West Pomeranian region in Poland. Also, we are discussing a turbine factory in Szczecin as part of the project for installation of offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea. We are also proceeding with ORLEN Synthos Green Energy, which submitted an application for technology assessment of small nuclear reactors, that is SMRs, to the National Atomic Energy Agency. We are also continuing with our works for low emission aviation fuel, SAF for PLL LOT as of 2025 due to the construction of a special installation for HVO, that is Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil in Płock.
We also established cooperation with both Szoki and Widawid as part of the ORLEN Parcel project. We have established cooperation with Pesa for hydrogen-powered railways. Our company, based in Czech Republic, that is ORLEN Unipetrol, bought REMAQ, that is a leader in recycling in Central Europe. Based on that, it will be possible for us to manage plastic waste, which is a major problem, global problem in terms of environmental protection around the world. What else? In terms of key facts and figures, I have to mention that PKN ORLEN received another special prize for the best annual report 2021, we also were recognized again in the responsible companies ranking in 2022.
Last but not least, we remain the main sponsor of the Polish national football team, and I hope that tomorrow we will be celebrating Polish national football team's another achievement. What else? In terms of key facts and figures, we have already discussed the acquisition of the LOTOS Group. Before I move on to a more in-depth discussion of our financial performance, traditionally, again, on behalf of Mr. Daniel Obajtek, our CEO, I'd like to extend heartfelt thanks to all our colleagues across the ORLEN Group. We also have new colleagues that joined us both from the PGNiG and the LOTOS Group. To all of them, thank you very much. Moving on to the macro environment in the third quarter, I'll give the floor over now to Mr. Armen Artwich, Management Board Member for Corporate Affairs.
Thank you very much for this introduction. As my colleague, the CEO, has just said, we continued our business operations in the third quarter in a quite a different macro environment compared to the second quarter of the year. Our macro environment deteriorated considerably quarter on quarter, both in terms of refining as well as petrochemical segment. The model margin, refining margin, as well as differential, went down by nearly 40% quarter on quarter. The same applies to all refining products. In terms of model petrochemical margin, it went down by nearly 20% quarter on quarter. Here we also saw a downward trend for all petrochemical products in with the exception of PTA.
At the same time, the price of natural gas went up 2-fold quarter-on-quarter, nearly 2-fold quarter-on-quarter, which obviously translated into higher costs for the use of gas, natural gas. On the other hand, we have a positive impact of lower exchange rate of PLN versus the U.S. dollar. Looking at consumption data for both fuels and GDP, as you can see on this slide, you see that there is a clear downward trend in the economy and with the GDP going down across all markets that we operate at, mainly due to energy crisis and higher inflation rate across Europe. There's an inflation wave sweeping across Europe. The consumption of fuels year-on-year, it went down. In terms of quarter-on-quarter, in comparison with the previous year, it flattened out.
We are talking about several percent of decreases, and this should come as no surprise to anybody. Moving on, I would like to give the floor over back to Mr. Szewczak to discuss our financial standing and financial results. This slide shows you our revenues with the LIFO net profit net results. Let me start with the fact that we reported an increase in revenues going up by 26% quarter-on-quarter due to higher sales volumes, which resulted obviously from consolidation of the Grupa LOTOS. The revenue came in at nearly PLN 73 million... PLN 73 billion compared to 57 billion PLN in the second quarter. This obviously is an effect of a certain seasonality combined with lower quotations of both refining and petrochemical products, as well as volatile, but in general, decreasing crude oil prices.
EBITDA LIFO, adjusted EBITDA LIFO, we need to remember about the effect of one-offs. In this case, we are talking about at PLN 0.6 billion, which was lower by PLN 2.1 billion quarter-on-quarter, in which we reported... In the previous quarter, we reported PLN 10.7 billion in terms of, in terms of adjusted LIFO EBITDA. This was mainly due to, as I said before, lower margins, refining margins, and the differential as well, lower petrochemical margins, and the usage of historical inventory layers, as well as higher labor costs quarter-on-quarter. These negative factors were, as I said before, partially offset by seasonality as well as higher margins, as well as the weakening of PLN versus U.S. dollar quarter-on-quarter. One-offs or the one-offs I have mentioned included the consolidation of the acquired LOTOS Group.
We're talking about PLN 2.3 billion here. Also positive impact of hedging in the amount of PLN 0.9, as well as a negative impact of valuation of CO2 contracts in the amount of PLN 100 million. Adding up to, in total, PLN 3.5 billion. The negative effect, the LIFO effect, was at PLN 600 million in terms of the impact of changes in crude oil prices. We are also talking about PLN 0.8 billion in terms of financial results. This was a negative impact due to the surplus of negative foreign exchange differences and interest costs at positive net impact of settlement and valuation of derivative financial instruments, as well as dividends received.
The net result in the third quarter of the year came in at PLN 6.8 billion, which represented an increase quarter-on-quarter. We have to mention that at this point that this result, PLN 6.8 billion, should not include a one-off effect of a bargain acquisition of the Grupa LOTOS, which in itself represented as much as PLN 5.9 billion. In the next slides, we are talking about a breakdown of LIFO-based EBITDA by segment, and I'll now give the floor over to Mr. Artwich to continue.
The slide presents a LIFO-based EBITDA breakdown by segment. The refining segment reported nearly PLN 8 billion, going up quarter-on-quarter by PLN 3.3 billion, mainly on the back of consolidation of the acquired Grupa LOTOS at PLN 1.7 billion, as well as a positive...
The positive impact of hedging in the amount of PLN 3.5 billion quarter-on-quarter. We recorded a positive impact, quarter-on-quarter impact of higher sales volumes, due to seasonality, as well as the weakening of PLN versus U.S. dollar. Those positive effects were offset by the negative impact of lower refining margins quarter-on-quarter, as well as lower differentials, usage of historical inventory layers, as well as valuation of CO2 forward contracts. In the petrochemical business or segment, it came in at PLN 700 million, going down by nearly PLN 1 billion quarter-on-quarter due to the negative impact of lower sales volumes, so lower petrochemical margins, weakening of Euro versus U.S. dollar, and the usage again of historical inventory layers and valuation of CO2 contracts.
In the energy power generation segment, we are talking about an increase of PLN 0.4 billion to PLN 1.6 billion, mainly as a result of positive impact of higher margins hedging and valuation CO2 contracts, offset by lower sales volumes and higher labor costs. In terms of the retail segment, it came in at around PLN 909 million, PLN 900 million, going down by PLN 0.2 billion due to the positive impact of higher sales volumes resulting from seasonality mainly, as well as promotional campaigns, as well higher fuel and non-fuel margins. In terms of upstream, it went up by PLN 0.5 billion, mainly on the back of consolidation of the LOTOS Group. Also we have to remember about the negative impact of sales volumes, as well as lower margins and positive impact of hedging.
Corporate functions, the costs were at a similar level quarter-on-quarter. Moving on to a more in-depth discussion by segment. In the refining segment in the third quarter, our LIFO-based EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted that is without one-offs, it came in at PLN 5.5 billion, going down by PLN 1.4 billion. That is 20% compared to previous quarter.
We include one-offs at PLN 2.2 billion, which were described here, our EBITDA LIFO went up by PLN 3.3 billion quarter-on-quarter as a result of, first of all, positive impact of macro quarter-on-quarter, including the positive impact of hedging, the weakening of PLN versus U.S. dollar, which was offset partially by the negative impact of both lower cracks in light and middle dist rates and also HSFO, as well as lower differential valuation of CO2 contracts. Higher sales volumes in total went up by over 50% quarter-on-quarter, of which we're talking about higher sales volumes of gasoline, diesel oil by more than 50%, LPG as well as aviation fuel.
The other bar that you can see in the right lower section of this slide, this includes the consolidation of the acquired LOTOS Group at PLN 1.7 billion, as well as higher trade margins at PLN 0.4 billion, as well as usage of historical inventory layers down at minus PLN 0.6 billion quarter-on-quarter. In terms of the operational data of the refining segment, the throughput of crude oil amounted to 10.5 million tons, of which 1.7 at PKN ORLEN Gdańsk.
This represents an increase quarter on quarter by 3.3 million tons, including an increase by 1.7 million in Poland, both for Płock and Gdańsk, combined with a lower throughput of oil, as well as a higher middle distillates yield, resulting also from the change of a product mix after the acquisition of LOTOS. At ORLEN Unipetrol, we reported a higher throughput by 0.3 million tons as a result of the operational data from Kralupy and Litvinov at full production mode after the maintenance shutdowns. We reported lower fuel yield by 5 percentage points due to higher share of high sulfur crude oil in the throughput structure.
At ORLEN Lietuva, we reported higher throughput by 1.2 million tons due to the completion of the planned cyclical regular maintenance shutdowns of refineries and favorable macro situation. Lower fuel yield, down by 14 percentage points, was due to higher share of high sulfur crude oil in our throughput structure, as well as the shutdown of our reforming unit. In the third quarter, we sold more than 51 or more than 50% products than before. This increase in Poland represented 62%, 22% for the Czech Republic, and 47 in Lithuania. Moving on to our petrochemical margin. The petrochemicals segment reported LIFO-based EBITDA at nearly PLN 700 million, which includes both Anwil contribution as well as lower PTA sales.
Our third quarter results were impacted by negative macro as well, which included lower petchem margins of olefins, polyolefins, PVC and fertilizers. The weakening of EUR against U.S. dollars, as well as the negative impact of the valuation of CO2 contracts. Those effects were partially limited by the positive impact of higher margins on the sales of PTA. In the third quarter, we reported a decrease in sales volumes going down by 80% quarter-on-quarter, including lower sales of olefins going down by 15%, polyolefins going down by 7%, fertilizers going down by 37%, PVC by 17%, and PTA by 24%. Other factors included mainly lower trade margins, the usage of historical inventory layers, as well as higher costs in terms of both fixed and labor costs.
In terms of the operational data of this particular segment, in the petrochemical segment, we saw lower utilization ratio due to maintenance shutdowns, and also lower demand for petrochemical products. Looking at individual units, production units in terms of petrochemical segment, you can see that the olefins segment at Płock reported a decrease due to shutdowns of BOB and also Anwil as well in the reported quarter. Well, at Płock, reported lower utilization due to the shutdown of its installations in the third quarter of 2022. Metathesis unit at Płock, we had a shutdown of this installation due to market conditions and market limitations. In terms of the fertilizers production, we had a shutdown of installations in the third quarter of 2022.
In terms of PVC at Włocławek, we also had a planned maintenance shutdown in the 3rd quarter of the year, and the same applies to PTA at Włocławek. Also in here, we had a limited market demand as a negative contributor. For the olefin, as far as the olefins installation at Unipetrol, it maintained stable operation of its installations. The utilization ratio was limited due to the high level of inventories as a result of shutdowns. Sales amounted to 1.1 million tons, going down by 18% quarter-on-quarter, which was a consequence of, first of all, this lower sales in Poland, going down by 21%. Fertilizers, mainly due to high gas prices, which affected production costs as well as olefins and PTA due to the lower demand for those products.
In the Czech Republic, it went down by 20... 12% as a result of lower sales of fertilizers, while in Lithuania, it went up as a result of the lack of negative impact of regular maintenance shutdowns, which took place in the previous quarter. Moving on to our power generation energy segment. In the third quarter, this segment reported more than PLN 1.6 billion in terms of LIFO-based EBITDA, mainly due to the positive contribution of the Energa Group at PLN 1.1 billion. This result was considerably higher both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, mainly due to an improvement of our macro conditions despite lower volumes in terms of energy products.
The positive macro impact quarter-on-quarter was related to an increase in margins on both production and sales of electricity, as well as due to the positive impact of hedging valuation of CO2 contracts, as well as lower CO2 provision in terms of CO2 costs. We also reported a negative volume effect quarter-on-quarter. Also, we have to remember that this was a result of lower production and sales of electricity, both CCGT Włocławek and CCGT Płock, due to high natural gas quotations. The lower sales and distribution volumes, with higher production at Energa Group, that was another contributor. Other factors that were important for this particular segment included mainly higher labor costs at PLN 0.1 million, going down quarter-on-quarter.
In terms of the operational data for the power generation segment, we are talking about 2.8 terawatt-hours of electricity in terms of production volumes, of which 4% from the renewable energy sources. The production went up due to the higher demand from ORLEN Lietuva and a shorter shutdown of CCGT Włocławek compared to the second quarter of 2022, combined with decrease in production from the renewable energy sources due to worse weather conditions. Electricity sales went down by 5% quarter-on-quarter due to lower production of CCGT blocks and lower trading. Electricity distribution was comparable quarter-on-quarter at 5.6 terawatt-hours. CO2 emissions amounted to 2.4 million tons due to higher production at the Ostrołęka power station, which is fueled by coal. Moving on to the financial performance of the retail segment.
The retail muscle in the third quarter reported an EBITDA at PLN 856 million, contributed mainly to very high demand and consumption of fuels, supported by a widely known promotional campaign. Despite holiday period, which obviously in our business translates into a successful period, the fuel margins in Poland went down year-on-year and both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. In Germany, margins went up by 30% quarter-on-quarter. In the Czech Republic, they went up by 9% quarter-on-quarter, compared with a comparable level in terms of Lithuania. In terms of non-fuel margins, it went up both in Poland and the Czech Republic, with comparable margins reported in Germany and Lithuania.
Higher sales volumes were reported by it, representing 9% quarter-on-quarter, due to, first of all, seasonality as well as the promotional campaign I have mentioned. Also, higher sales of gasoline by 11%, diesel oil by 7%, and LPG by 5%. Other factors impacting the financial performance of the retail segment included, first of all, an increase in costs in terms of the operation of fuel stations, which was quite noticeable quarter-on-quarter. In terms of operational data for this particular segment, in the third quarter of the year, the sales volume came in at 2.5 million tons, going up by 9% quarter-on-quarter.
Sales went up across all our markets across the board, 11% in Poland, 4% in Czech Republic and Germany, and by 4%, 5% in Lithuania. The number of fuel stations across ORLEN Group came in at 2,898, going up by 13 quarter-on-quarter. Going up in Poland, Czech Republic, as well as in Slovakia, with a comparable number of fuel stations in Germany and Lithuania. Our market share went up in Poland while staying comparable in other countries where we operate quarter-on-quarter. The number of non-fuel locations went up by 14 quarter-on-quarter to 2,323, including in Poland, 1,775, including 14 ORLEN Ruch locations, 332 in the Czech Republic, 171 in Germany, 16 in Slovakia, and 29 in Lithuania.
Alternative fuel points, the number of those fuel points going up systematically. We are talking about 600 alternative fuel locations, going up quarter-on-quarter, including 460 in Poland, 121 in Czech Republic, and 19 in Germany. Right now we have 502 of alternative fuel points in terms of electric vehicles and a number of both hydrogen and CNG locations. Moving on to our upstream segment. EBITDA LIFO came in at 842, going up by six-fold year-on-year and two-fold quarter-on-quarter. The main contributors included, obviously, consolidation of the acquired LOTOS Group at PLN 500 million , and also positive macro impact, as well as higher sales.
Those pos factors were also increased by the positive impact of hedging and negative impact of certain acquisitions. Sales went up by 26% quarter on quarter, including higher sales of crude oil by 81% as well as natural gas by 27%, combined with a lower sales of condensate, gas condensate, going down by 8%. In terms of the operational data for the upstream segment, we are talking a major contribution from the acquisition of the Grupa LOTOS, which obviously translated into higher reserves of both crude oil and gas, and higher production, obviously. The exposure in Poland went up considerably, but we also added new markets, that is Norwegian, that is, that is Norway and Lithuania. At the end of the day, in terms of total reserves, we are talking about 223 barrel oil equivalents, million barrel oil equivalents, obviously.
Average production went up by 62% quarter-on-quarter, it came in at 30.2 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day, going up in Poland by 73%. The same applies to Canada as well as Lithuania, going down by 15, 200 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 0.5 respectively. In terms of the sales structure, natural gas represented 47% and liquid hydrocarbons at 53%. Moving on, I'll give now the floor over back to Mr. Janusz Szewczak, who will discuss our cash flows and the financial data in general.
This slide presents cash flow from operations as well as free cash flow and cash flow from investments. We can put it in a nutshell. In the third quarter, we generated cash flow from operations at PLN 9 billion .
They were limited basically, mainly, by the working capital increase of PLN 2.1 billion. We need to remember about our investments as well. The cash flow from investments came in at PLN 4.5 billion, with net outflows from investments at all point five. Obviously, we have to remember about that this was due to the acquisition of LOTOS. We generated more than PLN 22, or actually nearly PLN 23 billion of free cash flows with the LIFO. Year to date, for the 9 months, the LIFO effect was nearly at PLN 3 billion. Working capital increase was at PLN 9.2 billion, and CapEx came in at nearly PLN 11 billion, or PLN 10.8 billion to be specific. We spent nearly PLN 3 billion for the purchase of CO2 emission rights and property rights. This is a major contributor.
This is a major cost. We're talking about nearly PLN 3 billion after nine months of the year. We also spent PLN 4.5 billion for the settlement of deposits, securing our hedging instruments for hedging, not designated as such accounting. What makes us very happy is the fact that our debt indicators or debt figures went down by nearly PLN 7.5 billion, down to a very safe level, mainly due to solid cash flow from operations, combined with cash flows from investments at PLN 0.5 billion. The mandatory reserves was at nearly PLN 13 billion. Our net debt to EBITDA covenant, as I said, was at a very safe level, nearly zero, at 0.09. Our financing sources are well diversified and average maturity date is at 2025.
The ratings that we have reported, that is from Moody's and Fitch agencies, are unprecedented, historically highest ratings enjoyed by Grupa ORLEN, by the ORLEN Group. This is a sign of our financial strength. We have already discussed our investment in CapEx projects. We are planning the CapEx to come in at PLN 15 billion or more than PLN 15 billion, of which 70% is attributable to growth projects, which is very important. This level does not include the plans for the acquired LOTOS Group. The CapEx forecast, including LOTOS Group for this year, will come in at around PLN 17 billion. Our all investments year to date for the 9 months of the year came in at nearly PLN 11 billion, of which nearly 60% for the petrochemical business and the power generation business, which are main contributors and positive contributors to our profits.
In terms of our macro environment, the last slide we want to discuss and the market outlook, it will be discussed by Mr. Armen Artwich again.
To recap the presentation, ladies and gentlemen, as we said before at the very beginning, our macro environment or our market environment is highly volatile, it is very difficult for us to talk about our expectations for our macro environment for the future. We would like to discuss the main market indicators and the factors that are important to us as at today. First of all, in the medium term, we expect that crude oil prices, average crude prices, to be in the range of between $90-$110 per barrel.
We are also expecting a temporary increase in margins in European markets in the coming quarters as a result of an increase in demand for diesel, as well as diesel, mainly diesel by the energy segment, which will be used as substitute for natural gas. We are expecting the margins, petrochemical margins, to remain at a level of around 1,000 EUR per ton. In terms of gas prices, gas prices will obviously depend on the weather conditions in the coming months, as well as geopolitical risks related mainly to the ongoing invasion of Russia against Ukraine. In terms of electricity prices, they should not exceed 1,000 PLN per megawatt-hours as a result of regulatory changes, as well as the projected favorable weather conditions, as well as the expected economic recession.
In terms of GDP for our markets, they are unfortunately not as optimistic as previously reported. We are expecting that the fuel demand will go down, both for fuel and petrochemical products, as a result of, as I have mentioned, an economic decline. Next week, on December the fifth, we will have a ban on seaborne imports of crude oil from Russia, and the same will apply to the imports of fuel as of next year from Russia. We need to remember that in terms of our supplies of crude oil to the refineries across the ORLEN Group, we are well diversified. 70% of the crude oil processed at the ORLEN Group comes from outside of Russia, and we have not purchased any crude oil on the spot market from Russia.
We are only proceeding with our long-term contracts, which are still in effect, in terms of pipeline supplies from Russia. We do not import any fuels from Russia as well. In terms of our taxes, by the end of the year, we will have an anti-inflation regulations in Poland which will include an exemption of value-added tax as well as sales tax, as well as excise tax on fuels. This is a governmental anti-inflation package. Let me remind you that PKN ORLEN is the largest payer of value of tax in Poland, paying nearly PLN 27 billion to Poland in terms of taxes. The average every year is around PLN 400 billion in total.
Thank you very much for your attention, Let me now start the Q&A session. Thank you very much.
Traditionally, we'll move on to the questions we are receiving from the journalists. A question from Wojciech Jakubik, representing BiznesAlert.pl. Are you interested in any way in the Schwedt Refinery? If so, are Saudi Aramco interested as well? Maybe you will clarify the speculations in this area. We do not want to refer to any speculations in the media. If we take any decisions or if we have any plans, those are in line with corporate procedures, and we are informing the market, the investors, and the journalists officially. If any such decisions are taken, obviously in due time. This is not our problem in terms of Poland or in terms of ORLEN with the Schwedt Refinery. This is a German problem. The Germans will have to see to those problems themselves. Thank you very much. A question from Salon24.
When will we see the first offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea? What is the stage of completion of this project? As you well-known, both PKN ORLEN and the partner are in the process of building of the first offshore project, with a capacity of 1.2 GW of power. This project will generate electricity in 2026, in accordance with the plan. At the same time, we're trying to make sure that we will have more licenses. We're doing our best to secure those licenses of the level of licenses that are available in the market right now. PKN ORLEN's strategy is related to, or includes, to a large extent, investments in renewable energy projects, including offshore projects, obviously.
I do believe that it is also worth pointing out that we are considering this investment, first of all, in a very prudent way, but on the other hand, we are not wary, and we are not afraid to be a trendsetter in terms of the region. This is why we decided to build one of the most state-of-the-art, or use one of the most state-of-the-art wind turbines in our Baltic Sea farm. We are talking about 15 GW turbines, one of the most advanced turbines available in the market. We are also considering certain other aspects in order to make sure that we proceed with the investment as planned. This is why we decided to build an installation terminal, installation port for our wind, for our wind farms in the Baltic Sea, which will be located in Świnoujście.
We have also secured, for the purposes of this investment, we have secured a vast area of land, around 20 hectares, which will be used to, first of all, install those installations and systems to make sure that the colossal 15 MW turbines operate as planned, but also the smaller 20 MW turbines. We're also doing our best in order to make sure that the Polish economy is a beneficiary to the largest extent possible from these investments, and we are discussing with our partners to make sure that this is our goal. For instance, we have Vestas, one of the three major producers of turbines around the world. We are discussing with this company. We have partnered with this company, and it sees a major potential in Poland.
This is why they have decided recently to locate it, the factory for the production of components of turbines in Szczecin. This will employ several hundreds of people, and the products from this factory will not only be used for our Baltic Sea project, but also will be sold to customers all around the world. Thank you very much for this comprehensive answer. Another question came from Mr. Keobachinski, from representing Strefa Biznesu. When will you present PKN ORLEN's strategy which will include the acquisition of both PGNiG and Grupa LOTOS? As we said before, we are planning a new updated strategy to be published shortly, which will include the scale of the new multi-utility business after both acquisitions, and we are planning to present it early next year. The last question. Informacyjna Agencja Radiowa, represented by Mrs. Agnieszka Jasik.
Will you resign from long-term contracts with Russia as of the beginning of next year, as announced? What if the sanctions are not introduced? This question has already been answered, maybe to complement it. Ms. Janusz Szewczak will complement it.
We did not wait and rest on laurels. We actually had expected it beforehand. We had prepared for the 4 years before the actual war. We decided to negotiate with the world's biggest corporation in terms of crude oil, Saudi Aramco, in the context of the diversification of our crude oil supply. We signed respective agreements with Saudi Aramco to secure 20 million tons of crude oil to Poland. We actually were a step ahead of a great number of major corporations around the world. They woke up only after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Had taken certain steps before. In terms of the limitations in the future, we are well-prepared to actually take certain difficult decisions based on the European Commission's decisions, obviously. Those decisions must be unanimous, and they must be taken together by both sides, and they should not result in any disruptions in terms of competition. All the participants of this actually process needs to conform to those decisions. In terms of the sanctions, we are well prepared to any sanctions that will be introduced. We are also fully secured in terms of the supply of fuel of products to both our refineries and the refineries of our partners in the neighboring countries. All your questions, other questions will be answered by our press office. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you to our speakers and see you next time. Thank you very much.