Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to today's conference call, which will be devoted to the financial performance of the ORLEN Group after the fourth quarter of 2022. Today's speakers include Jan Szewczak, management board member for Finance at PKN ORLEN, and Mr. Armen Artwich, management board member for Corporate Affairs. A warm welcome also to the representatives of the media and our followers on social media as well. Good afternoon again, let me now give the floor over to my fellow speakers. Welcome to the next conference call that will summarize the fourth quarter of 2022, which is of major importance in this meeting today with you, because it recapitulates the long process of merger processes, M&A processes in respect of the LOTOS Group and the acquisition of PGNiG and the group.
As a result, today in Poland and in the CE region, we have formed one of Europe's largest corporation serving 100 million of clients. In terms of revenue, one of 150 largest, biggest companies in the world and in Europe. We will not rest on those laurels on the revenue that we will discuss today because we see quite a potential to increase those revenues in the future as well. Before I move on to discussing the details, as usual, traditionally, I would like to, on behalf of Mr.
Daniel Obajtek, Management Board President and CEO of PKN ORLEN, and on behalf of all members of the management board, I would like to extend my warmest gratitude, my warmest thanks to all employees across the ORLEN Group who contributed to such a solid, robust results for the fourth quarter of the year, but also for the entire year of 2022. In terms of major events and key facts and figures for the fourth quarter, I'll discuss them right now and then move on to a detailed discussion. First of all, we finalized the merger with PGNiG Group.
Secondly, this for the security of, for the energy security of Poland, we secured, this is very important, we secured crude oil deliveries from Saudi Arabia, we completed our agreement or concluded our agreement with Saudi Aramco, which guarantees deliveries of nearly 20 million tons of crude oil in such difficult time, considering that the supplies from Russia, from the eastern part of the world for us, were stopped altogether. As a result, we were able to stabilize the Polish market and also some of the market of some of the countries in the region. The stabilization consists in stable deliveries and securing a relatively low prices, both for gasoline and diesel oil.
Other key facts and figures for the fourth quarter include acquisition of petrochemical assets from Basell Orlen Polyolefins, which guarantee 100,000 tons of the yearly capacity of LDPE, low-density polyethylene, which is very important, a very important product for our market. We are planning to increase our crude oil production by nearly 47 million barrel of oil equivalent, as well as the production of natural gas by 9 BCM in Norway as of 2027. Moreover, we also obtained the shares in the next 4 exploration licenses by PGNiG Upstream Norway, as well as LOTOS Exploration and Production Norge. We also significantly strengthened LNG supplies to Poland, both in the context of the 20-year contract with an American company, Sempra, for the purchase of American LNG. We're talking about 1.3 BCM of LNG per year.
The beginning of supplies is planned for 2027. The contract has already been signed. As well as the fact that we built our own fleet of 8 gas carriers, which will be brought on stream by 2025. The first of those gas carriers already sails with gas to Poland. We are planning investments in both logistics and production assets in Gdańsk. Mr. Obajtek has already informed you that we're talking about a transshipment terminal on the Martwa Wisła River, as well as building the hydrocracking oil unit. We are also considering certain petrochemical investments together with our partner, Saudi Aramco, in Gdańsk. There are a number of ideas in this area. We're working on it. This is a major partner.
This is an important business partner and a wealthy partner that has modern state-of-the-art technologies under their belt, and we will be able to use those technologies, which is very important, of crucial importance, because such patents or licenses nowadays are very costly. Our venture capital fund plans further investments in new state-of-the-art technologies, which will ensure faster and more environmentally friendly production of semi-products that are used in the production of automotive products as well as medicine, plastics, bio-additives to fuels. We are talking about our focus on the share of scientific world in our projects. We also appointed an officer, a board representative for climate and sustainability. This is obviously global standard nowadays. We will strive to have our complete carbon footprint and publish or disclose our carbon footprint.
We're talking about Scope 3 reporting, which will allow us to calculate greenhouse gas emissions along the entire value chains. We're talking about the new requirements that are in place today, we want to do our best in order to meet those requirements and react accordingly and as fast as possible. We completed the construction of one of the largest PV farms in Poland, total capacity of 62 MW. We're planning investments to reduce water intake from the Vistula River that is used for technological processes at Płock. We are planning to bring it down by 25%, which is of major importance because water is a major aspect in the process, the sustainability process. We're also planning the construction of the first biogas plant in Poland in order to reduce CO₂ emissions in truck transport, road transports by truck.
On a lighter note, somewhat, we also extended our cooperation with the Polish Football Association for yet another four years, we are planning and hoping to see the results of our football, national football team that will be comparable to the results reported by PKN ORLEN. PKN ORLEN for the twelfth time in a row was awarded Top Employer Polska title, the title that is awarded to Poland's best employers across the country. We doing our best in order to meet the highest people standards across the group. We're not talking only about PKN ORLEN, but also about ANWIL and ORLEN Unipetrol. We have been recognized in this aspect and awarded duly.
In terms of the growth on our petrochemical muscle, which is obviously of major importance to us, I've already mentioned about petrol oil and polyolefins and petrochemical assets, which will secure 1/3 of national demand for this product. Speaking of licenses, we secured four more licenses, exploration licenses, in Norway. We want to increase the production of crude oil there significantly in coming years. I've already mentioned about our fleet of gas carriers. Today, it is not easy to purchase gas carriers even for cash, not to mention the timelines for bringing those on stream. We're talking about lengthy processes of many years. However, we managed to meet our business targets here and we will have eight such gas carriers. I've already mentioned about the contract with Sempra Infrastructure.
A couple of weeks ago, we had a visit from a representative of Sempra Infrastructure and also Ambassador, His Excellency, Mr. Brzezinski, and together with Daniel Obajtek, our CEO, they reported that we will, together with our partners, that we will increase our business cooperation with the American side in terms of the production of hydrocarbons. We will and we want to invest in the transshipment terminal on the Martwa Wisła River in Gdańsk. I can also mention at this point that the fourth quarter of the year was characterized by high volatility of all macro parameters compared to the previous, the previous year-on-year. We see a major impact of the war in Ukraine, and practically every single aspect of our operation is affected by this very sad event
We are today we have the first anniversary of this aggression where our neighbor was invaded and we want to do our best, and we are doing our best as a corporation, as a company. We want to help our neighbor. We want to secure our partners from Ukraine and our neighbors in general. For over a year, we have been facing this very hostile and volatile business environment. We have mentioned it already during our previous conference calls. In terms of model refining margins between the prices of crude oil and ready products, fuels. These were affected by higher demand for diesel oil because of the concerns about its availability on the back of the EU-wide ban on the imports of fuels from Russia.
Everybody across Europe were afraid that diesel oil will be and would be available, and they purchased it stock. We have secured the stock of diesel oil, and in the past couple of weeks, we drove down, reduced all diesel oil prices across Poland and all our fuel stations. This is a sign that building a multi utility corporation based on a couple of pillars was a good choice, and it corroborates that our decision was indeed a good one, because Poland is on the safe side in terms of its energy security. We are increasing energy security based on our cooperation with very solid partners across or along our supply chains. We can say that nearly 90% of our energy feedstocks and crude oil come from non-Russian sources.
In terms of gas, 100% of our gas supplies come from non-Russian sources. This is the proof that we are doing our best, and we meet all the sanctions introduced or imposed by the European Union in this area. In terms of differential, it goes down quarter or has been going down in quarter-on-quarter due to limitations on the processing of Russian crude. We had a long-term contract with Tatneft on the supplies of products. This will expire naturally. If there are earlier decisions taken by the European Union, we will obviously meet those targets and those decisions in no time. In terms of a macro environment, in general, it was not that good as before.
Our model petrochemical margin went down 15% year-on-year on the back of lower margins across the petrochemical chain. Natural gas price on the TGE went up, obviously, which translated into higher costs. It was combined by reduced consumption of gas across the group. We see that our clients, for instance, entrepreneurs, they also reduced their consumption of gas, we managed to drive it down by 30% year-on-year, which was a major decrease. Another major element that affected or influenced our operational results was the relatively weak exchange rate of PLN versus the U.S. dollar and euro.
It's worth pointing out that in December 2022, we had a temporary level of PLN 5, which obviously shows the importance or the impact of currency rates at, for instance, the purchase prices of our feedstocks. The next slide presents a decreasing consumption of fuels as a result of economic slump or slowdown. You will see quite clearly that there have been sign of an economic slowdown in terms of GDP, which went down across all our markets. In Lithuania, we had a major decrease down to a negative number. This is related to the huge inflation rate in the Baltic states. In the Baltic states especially, we see the raging inflation, despite the fact that those countries have already adopted euro as a currency.
Relatively speaking, compared to those countries, Poland is looking good. Consumption of fuel in the fourth quarter of the year was lower in general across the board, across all our markets. In terms of our financial results and the performance of PKN ORLEN Group, let me start by saying that in terms of revenue, in quarter four alone, we reported PLN 100 billion of revenue, mainly on the back of higher sales volumes, due to consolidation Based on acquisition of LOTOS Group and PGNiG Group, as well as higher quotations of refining products combined with lower quotations of petrochemical products. In terms of the revenue for the entire year, we're talking about PLN 280 billion in revenue for 2022. As I said, this is not our last word.
We will not rest on our laurels here. I have already mentioned that this was an effect of mainly increased sales volumes. We will continue that. In terms of LIFO-based EBITDA, that is the operating profit, we are reporting an increase by PLN 11.8 billion year-on-year, mainly on the back of consolidation of the results reported by the LOTOS Group and PGNiG Group from the amount of PLN 7.4 billion. Operating profit LIFO-based EBITDA came in nominally, in nominal terms, at PLN 16 billion, which was up year-on-year by PLN 11.8 billion, mainly, as I said, on the back of consolidation and our efforts related to consolidation. Obviously, those effects were limited or offset by the negative impact of the effects of hedging and also currency effects.
These effects were also offset by lower petrochemical margins as well as the valuation of CO₂ contracts. We saw major volatility here in terms of the prices of these CO₂ contracts per ton. Also we have to remember about the usage of historical inventory layers as well as higher overheads and labor costs. EBITDA at PLN 0.5 billion was a result of the surplus of positive foreign exchange differences, as well as the net impact and settlement and valuation of derivative financial instruments, combined with the negative impact of interest costs. Net result at PLN 0.1 billion in the fourth quarter, 2022 alone. This obviously does not include the one-off profit on the bargain purchase of the PGNiG Group, which came in at PLN 8.2 billion.
The negative effect of the changes in the prices of crude oil, that is the LIFO effect, came in at a PLN 1.8 billion, which drove down our EBITDA figure to PLN 414.2 billion. It's worth mentioning at this point that PKN ORLEN is the largest payer of tax in Poland. For a number of years, for a couple of years, we are transferring huge amounts of money, we're talking to the state budget. We are talking about PLN 40+ billion per year. At the same time, exhibiting certain social sensitivity and responsibility in the context of legislative measures, governmental measures, related to the protection of consumers, especially the most sensitive consumers in Poland. You know very well what we're talking about. We're talking about certain groups of entrepreneurs. We are also talking about gas prices.
We are responsible in this respect. We react quickly, we are doing our best in order to alleviate those problems for these groups of customers and entrepreneurs, especially in view of certain price shocks across the market. For instance, the prices of diesel oil. Everybody wanted to buy diesel oil on stock before February the 5th. As we have mentioned, we had no shocks whatsoever at our fuel stations. All the more so that we drove down the prices. As I said before, we drove down the price or reduced the prices of diesel oil in our fuel stations. In terms of the breakdown by segment, obviously on a very general note, because it will be discussed in more detail by my fellow speaker, Mr. Artwich.
In terms of refinery, refining, we are talking about an increase by PLN 8.8 billion year-on-year due to mainly the positive macro impact as well as the consolidation of the LOTOS Group in the amount of PLN 3.6 billion. Those effects were, as I said, offset by a negative impact of the valuation of CO₂ contracts and certificates. In terms of the petchem business, we are talking about PLN 0.8 or PLN 0.6 billion, and this was a decrease by PLN 0.8 billion, mainly due to the negative impact of macro, lower sales volumes, as well as valuation of CO₂ contracts again.
In terms of the energy segment, we are talking about 0.5 billion PLN going up by 0.2 billion PLN year-on-year, mainly as a result of positive macro effect, and also some negative impacts of, for instance, lower sales volumes, consolidation of acquired PGNiG Group, higher overheads, higher labor costs, as well as provisions for electricity agreements, talking about the customers from of Energa Group. In terms of retail, we reported an increase by 0.1 billion PLN year-on-year due to positive macro as well as lower sales volumes. It's worth pointing out that today the share, the actual share of retail in our profits and operational performance in Poland, we are talking about 3% only.
This is a very small share in terms of retail's contribution to our performance, and we have to remember that we do not only sell fuels, but we also sell a number of or a range of various products, including cigarettes, food, sweets, confectionery, and the hot dogs, the famous ORLEN hot dogs. This shows that our profits are generated in other segments than retail, and it's important to mention that our solid performance was additionally strengthened by upstream, and we're talking about an increase by PLN 6.1 billion year-on-year, mainly on the back of consolidation of the LOTOS Group and the PGNiG Group. We're talking about more than PLN 6 billion and a positive contribution, also we had a very positive macro impact and high sales volumes. In terms of gas, this is the only negative element.
We're talking about -PLN 2.2 billion year-on-year. If you decide to acquire something, you have to acquire that with both positive and negative aspects. In terms of gas, it was a negative contribution. The corporate functions, they were down in based on higher costs going up by PLN 0.4 billion due to higher or larger scale of the ORLEN Group's operations, which have been upscaled significantly bigger. We're talking about a huge increase in terms of the number of employees, the headcount across the group. Moving on to a more detailed discussion segment- by- segment, I'll now give the floor over to Mr. Armen Artwich, a Member of the Management Board for Corporate Affairs. Thank you very much for this introduction, let me start by discussing the refining segment.
In the second quarter, the LIFO came in at 10.1 billion PLN, going up year-on-year by 0.7 billion PLN based on positive macro. Due to the, obviously, the current situation, a war in Ukraine, which affected the fuel market situation and also exchange rates. Those effects were partially offset by hedging CO₂ valuation, CO₂ contract valuation, as well as basically higher crude oil prices across global markets. High sales volumes went up by 43% year-on-year, of which higher sales of gasoline by 30%, diesel by 53%, LPG by 61%, and aviation fuel by 40%, combined by lower sales of heavy stuff, fuel oil down by 3%.
Despite higher sales volumes, the volume effect was negative generally, mainly due to a change in the structure of the throughput going down by 22% because we had to replace Russian sources by other sources, for instance, Saudi Arabian sources. Talking about sales, it went up in Poland by 75%, going up in the Czech Republic by 14% and 3% in Lithuania. I have already mentioned that major impact, positive impact on the refining segment's performance was due to on the back of our acquisition of the PGNiG Group. Obviously, this was offset by higher overheads and higher labor costs. In terms of the operational data for the refining segment, we have to say that our refineries operated in full swing in 2022.
We processed 2.6 million tons of at PKN ORLEN. The throughput went up in Poland by 2.6 million tons year-on-year, mainly based on throughput of the Gdańsk refinery, combined with a lower throughput of Płock refinery, mainly due to shutdown of a unit as well as other negative impacts. The share of fuels, fuel yields, was at PPV year-on-year, combined with a lower fuel yield at Płock refinery due to the shutdown mentioned before. We have reported higher throughput at ORLEN Unipetrol, going up by 0.1 million tons year-on-year. In terms of ORLEN Lietuva, it was comparable in terms of the crude oil throughput year-on-year. We had no maintenance shutdowns or major maintenance shutdowns of our installations.
We reported higher fuel yield by 1 percentage point year-on-year as a result of lower share of high sulfur crude oils in the throughput structure, and we have to remember about the effect of war in Ukraine. In the fourth quarter, we sold more refining products going up by 35% year-on-year, mainly on the back of consolidation of the refining assets in Gdańsk. In terms of the results of the petrochemical segment, we reported PLN 583 million for LIFO-based EBITDA, including the annual result, which was at PLN 168 million and a negative result for PTA compared to the previous year.
We had a negative macro impact, including lower margins on olefins, polyolefins and PVC, the weakening of the exchange rate of euro against the U.S. dollar, as well as the negative effect of the valuation of CO₂ contracts. These effects were partially offset by higher margins on PTA as well as the hedging effect. In the fourth quarter, we reported lower sales volumes down, going down 12% year-over-year, including lower sales of olefins by 23%, polyolefins going down by 2%, fertilizers going down by 22%, PVC down by 26%, combined with higher PTA sales by 28%. Other negative impact or other impact included mainly the negative impact of the usage of historical inventory layers as well as higher overhead and labor costs.
In terms of the operational data for the petrochemical segment, we reported lower utilization on our main petrochemical installations, mainly due to market limitations as well as lower demand for petrochemical products. We had lower utilization of both the olefins unit at Płock as well as VUP at Płock, and we also had a shutdown of the installation at Płock in terms of metathesis due to decrease in demand, as I mentioned before. In terms of fertilizers at Włocławek, we had a limited availability of the installation in October and November, and the PVC installation at Włocławek as well saw a continuing decline in demand for PVC and was also impacted by the extended technological shutdown in the quarter three of 2022, which was extended to quarter four.
In terms of PTA at Włocławek, we reported smaller scope of maintenance shutdowns, but this was combined with limited demand. At Unipetrol in the Czech Republic, in the olefins unit, this work was adjusted to the availability of both PO, PT, P2 and P3. Sales amounted to 1.1 million tons and going down by 12% year-on-year, including lower sales in Poland, down by 12%, mainly due to maintenance shutdowns. This also applies to PVC and olefins as a result of lower demand. In the Czech Republic, sales went down by 11% as a result of lower sales of benzene, fertilizers and PVC. In Lithuania, it went down by 50% as a result of market challenges and limitations.
In the energy segment in the fourth quarter, we reported PLN 364 million in EBITDA LIFO, including a negative impact of the NR Group as well as on the consolidation of PGNiG at minus PLN 152 million. We also saw a macro impact which was positive year-on-year, combined with increase in gas prices and lower CO₂ emission provisions as well as valuation of CO₂ contracts, which was negative. Still, we reported a negative volume effect as a result of the persisting gas prices, high gas prices in terms of natural gas across all our markets. This obviously impacted the results of the Energa Group.
The item others included mainly provision for electricity contracts, in terms of the customers of the Energa Group, due to the approval of the tariff for 2033, as well as the implementation of regulations on energy prices. Obviously, this was also due to the consolidation of the acquired PGNiG Group and higher fixed costs and labor overheads and labor costs, partially offset by the sale of contracted but unused natural gas. In terms of heating, we report an increase in average selling prices of heat by PGNiG TERMIKA, combined with higher generation costs. In terms of the operational data for the energy segment in the fourth quarter, the ORLEN Group as a whole produced 3.7 TWh of electricity, of which nearly 50% was the heat coming from environmentally friendly sources.
Electricity production went up by 70% year-on-year as a result of new generation units. Sales of electricity from PGNiG came in at 1.2 TWh , which is comparable to the last year's result. Sales of electricity went down by 10% year-on-year as a result of lower wholesales, wholesale and retail sales across the Energa Group. Electricity distribution was at a similar level year-on-year, going to 5.5 TWh. Heat sales of the PGNiG Group amounted to 14.1 TWh . That was comparable to last year. We have to remember about higher temperatures in the quarter going up by 1.4 degrees Celsius.
In terms of the operational results or the results in general in terms of our retail segment, the EBITDA came in at PLN 66,665 million, going up by PLN 92 million. We have to remember at this point about the lower base, which was due to the relatively low retail prices reported across the markets in the fourth quarter of the year. Sales volumes went down year-on-year. In general, across the group, going down by 1%, including higher sales in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania, but considerably lower in Germany due to certain conditions in the German wholesale market, mainly due to lower sales of diesel oil and this was combined with higher sales of gasoline and LPG. In the fourth quarter, we also reported higher operating costs of our fuel stations year-on-year.
In terms of the operational results of the retail segment in the fourth quarter, sales volumes came in at 2.3 million tons, as I said before globally it was down by 1% year-on-year, mainly on the back of lower sales in Germany by as much as 19%. It was combined by higher sales in Poland by 6% and in the Czech Republic by 5% and in Lithuania by 2%. The number of fuel stations at the end of the year was at 3,097, going up by 216 year-on-year.
The number of fuel stations went up in Poland and Hungary as a result, obviously, on the acquisition of LOTOS and the realization of remedies, and now Slovakia as well as a result of the launch and the rebranding of self-service stations acquired by the local network. Market share increased in Poland and Slovakia, it went down in the Czech Republic year-on-year. The number of non-fuel locations went up year-on-year by 169, and it came in at 2,459, including in Poland, we're talking about 1,847, 333 in the Czech Republic, 173 in Germany, and so on. We also have reported a higher alternative fuel points number.
We're talking about 637 such points, including 439 in Poland, 125 in Czech Republic, and 19 in Germany. The ORLEN Paczka locations in Poland went up to 7,944, including 1,017 ORLEN fuel stations, 780 in Ruch kiosks, as well as 3,300 partner points and 1,847 parcel machines. In terms of upstream, the LIFO EBITDA figure came in at PLN 6.3 billion , and this was due, among others, by consolidation with the PGNiG Group, which resulted in a surge of the performance of our upstream segment.
The result of the LOTOS Group, which we also acquired, had also a positive impact on our performance in terms of the upstream segment by PLN 600 million. Obviously, we had positive macro effects at this point in terms of the prices of feedstocks. However, compared to the third quarter, we saw a major decrease across of prices across our markets. The higher sales volumes, they were reported at 73%, of which higher sales of crude oil 7x as well as natural gas by 2% and LNG by 30% or 42%. We reported higher production figures in Poland and Norway.
At the end of the year, total reserves came in at 175,000 of barrel of oil equivalent, of which in Poland by 82,000, in Norway by 88,000. We also need to remember about the effects, positive effect in Pakistan, Lithuania and Canada. In Canada, we reported decrease in production by 0.3 thousand of barrel of oil equivalents per day. In terms of the breakdown, you can see the breakdown of our upstream production on the slide. We will now move on to the new segment that is gas. We're talking about the segment that will include both distribution as well as trade and storage, and the former PGNiG Group.
As I said, the EBITDA figure was a negative figure, which was due to mainly high costs of acquisition of gas, natural gas prices. The peak in spot prices of gas occurred at the end of the year, the market reacts later. The price went up by 5% year-on-year. We reported a loss at -PLN 3.2 billion . It was partially offset by the result of distribution in terms of EBITDA, we're talking about an increase by PLN 0.4 billion year-on-year, mainly on the back of the positive balance was an effect of higher prices and the balancing in general in the market. The consumption of gas in Poland is going down, it is also affected by higher temperatures on average in this period.
This translates into lower sales of gas. We're talking about an increase of 30.7 TWh of natural gas. The volume of distribution of gas went down by 12% as well, down to 36.2 TWh. This resulted in lower demand. We're talking about a decrease of 0.2 billion cubic meters year-over-year. Almost 50% came from the LNG terminal at Świnoujście, where 18 carriers were unloaded. At the end of the year, we had a 97% level of gas storage in Poland. I'll now give the floor over back to Mr. Szewczak, who will discuss our financial situation. Starting from cash flow at slide number 23, you can see those figures. In terms of the fourth quarter, we generated our cash flow from operations at PLN 13.2 billion .
This was offset by limited demand for working capital, down by -2 nearly, as well as income taxes at more than PLN 3 billion, as well as the settlements of additional payments. You can see all those figures on the bar chart. The net effect on investments came in at nearly PLN 8 billion, mainly due to the acquisition of the PGNiG and cash of this group at PLN 12.8 billion, proceeds from shares sold to implement remedies relating to the LOTOS Group's acquisition at PLN 4.6 billion, combined with our CapEx figure at nearly PLN 9 billion. In terms of the data for the entire year of 2022, the LIFO-based EBITDA came in at nearly PLN 4 million in terms of our operational profit. LIFO effect was at PLN 1.1 billion.
The demand for working capital went up by PLN 11 billion. Our CapEx, that is our investments, came in at nearly PLN 20 billion in such a difficult year. Combined, which is worth pointing out, with lower debt, down by PLN 14 billion in 2022. On the one hand, we had high CapEx, and also we managed to have a strict control over our debt and financing in general. Our dividend was paid to our shareholders. We spent PLN 6.4 billion on the purchase of CO₂ emission allowances. In terms of the acquisition of the LOTOS Group's assets, this was an effect of nearly PLN 7 billion. As I said before, we also received PLN 16.3 million from sales of assets under remedies related to the LOTOS Group.
The next slide number 24, we're talking about debt. As you can see, in the fourth quarter, we saw an increase, a decrease of debt quarter on quarter, mainly obviously to the positive impact of our investments at PLN 7.8 billion, combined with the negative effect of the repayment of loans and credits at nearly PLN 12.6 billion. This must be remembered that this is a negative impact. I've already mentioned about the dividend. The value of our obligatory reserve, mandatory reserves in the balance sheet at the end of the last quarter of the year amounted to nearly PLN 12 billion. In terms of the net debt to EBITDA covenant, at the end of the year, we had a practically negative or zero net debt to EBITDA figure.
This is very important in the context of our planned activities in the years to come. In general, our financial resources are well diversified. The weighted average maturity is 2025. We are very effective in terms of our mergers and acquisition processes and all the solid financial foundations of the ORLEN Group is both recognized and well estimated by the rating agencies. As you can see, our ratings went up. We're upgraded to historically highest levels. A3 stable outlook from Moody's. BBB+ stable outlook from Fitch. We are drawing to a close of today's conference call, but Mr. Artwich now will discuss our CapEx and the planned CapEx for 2023. Slide number 25 presents our CapEx in 2022.
Which came in both for the ORLEN Group and also the acquired PGNiG and LOTOS Group came in at PLN 19.6 billion, of which around 50% went to finance Petrochem and energy products which are the two basic pillars of operations. We also have a slide that presents on the slide, we also present our plans for our main growth projects, as well as the increase in our operations on the back of M&A processes. The CapEx that is planned will increase next year. Around 70% will be spent on growth projects, which will be split uniformly between our main segments. This is all presented on the slide on the right-hand side.
Most of our projects will be delivered in Poland, which translates into around 70% of our CapEx, as was in Norway, more than 10% of our overall CapEx figure. The maintenance CapEx will increase twofold, mainly due to more maintenance shutdowns, as well as an increase in the prices of construction materials as well as services. The next slide presents our macro environment in this quarter, first quarter of the year. We are talking about lower effect in terms of our stock. Total reserves were above the 5-year average, and this was the first such effect for the past 2 years. We need to remember that the production in the United States went up and the production of crude oil in Norway went up as well.
Our refining margin went down by 13% quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to the negative effect, partially compensated by lower gas prices. Our diesel margins went down, basically, on the back of lower supply on the market and the embargo on fuels imported from Russia. Our petrochemical margin went down in the quarter, mainly due to lower demand for petrochemical products due to economic slowdown. Both annually and quarterly, we reported a significant decrease in gas prices in the TTF and TGE market on the back of mild winter and high imports of LNG. PLN strengthened versus the U.S. dollar by 6% quarter-on-quarter, combined with the same flat level versus the euro.
In terms of the market outlook, which is presented on slide number 29, this year we expect that the crude oil price will go down to $85-$95 per barrel. Also a decrease in refinery margins to around $11 per barrel because the fuel markets will go back to their equilibrium, which will be driven by a slowdown in economic activity in the global scale as well as the gradual increase in supply because new refineries will be brought on stream. The differential in 2023 is expected to fall to around $5 per barrel as a result of a major reduction of throughput, Repco.
The petro-petrochemical margin is expected to decrease as well to around EUR 1,100 per ton as a result of a drop in demand and high inflation. Natural gas prices will go down, or are expected to go down to around PLN 200 per megawatt hour. Gas prices in the coming quarters will depend largely on weather conditions as well as geopolitical risks. We're also expecting a drop in electricity prices year-over-year to around PLN 450 per megawatt hour, mainly on the back of higher reserves as well as lower prices of CO₂ emission allowances as well as gas prices and consequently, the decrease in the prices of electricity. In terms of GDP and the outlook for our major markets, these are not very positive.
We are expecting a drop in demand for all our products on the back of the economic slowdown. Other important matters here, regulations which impacts our business, obviously. We need to mention about the above-mentioned EU embargo on fuel imports from Russia, which came in at, or in effect, on the 5th of February, 2023. As a reminder, the ORLEN Group was faster than the embargo. Practically speaking, ever since the Russian aggression in Ukraine, we have not imported any gas from Russia. Another important issue here is an act on special protection of certain customers consuming gas. This matter will have a major impact on the performance of PKN ORLEN in the gas segment. Thank you very much for your attention.
That would be all for today. Now we can ask you to ask your questions. We're moving on traditionally to the Q&A session. We have received a number of questions from Mr. Apaldonovich, ISBnews. When will you officially take over a few stations from MOL in the Trnava, Slovakia, and when will you will have the first MOL station opened in Hungary? We are meeting all our obligations and requirements, both in terms of the European Commission's requirements, which is related to both the remedies and M&A processes. In the beginning of December 2022, we took over 79 fuel stations in Hungary, which were rebranded. The rebranding process is already underway.
We want to adjust them to our standards and our requirements, and our standards in fuel stations, as you can clearly see when you travel all around Europe, our standards are high, and we want to have those standards across all our markets, not only Poland. We will take over 143 stations in Hungary and 39 stations in Slovakia. Those acquisitions and the rebranding processes is, as I said, on their way, and it will continue this year until mid-year. We will close those processes at that point. This is another proof that we are witnessing a historical situation here.
Who would have thought 1,000 years ago or couple years ago that PKN ORLEN, as a specifically Polish company, will be not only the largest such corporation in the CEE region, but it will also secure or guarantee energy security, not only in Poland, but also in other CEE countries. We are very proud about that. We do believe that this is something we have achieved in partnership with the Polish government, the partnership between the Polish government and a state-owned company that PKN ORLEN essentially is. Everybody, all the players, major players across those markets, needs to take that into account. Another question from Radio Gdańsk.
The lack of the licenses for new areas for the construction of new wind farms, how will it affect your future plans in terms of this particular segment of your operations? Since the very beginning of this process, we have declared our interest in acquiring all 11 licenses, location licenses. Right now, we have a decision in terms of 5 out of 11 those licenses. We're still awaiting the decisions in other areas. We do not change our plans in terms of the growth of our operations in this particular area, wind farms. We want to enhance our competencies in this particular area in terms of highly qualified personnel and the building of the border terminal, installation terminal in Świnoujście as well.
Essentially, the answer to that question is as follows: We do not change our plans. We are waiting for the results of other processes in terms of licensing. When we took part in those processes, we were well aware of the fact that this is a competition-based process, and it's very competitive, and we might not be selected as the winning bidder here for all those locations. Yes, we will wait for the final decisions here. We have a question on our reactors from Reuters, for instance. What's the stage of this process currently in terms of SMRs? When will we see the first reactor brought on stream? When will we see specific investments in this area? The ORLEN Group is a modern group that is well ahead of the current market situation.
We are well advanced here in terms of the preparations we have taken in order to implement this technology, SMR technology. We have the exclusivity right here in terms of the use of BWRX-300. We have partnered with major partners here. I'm talking about American companies. That is, General Electric, Hitachi Nuclear Energy. This is the most advanced SMR technology in the world, and we can say that at this point, it's being commercialized already in Canada. Our company that deals with this process, that oversees this process, in partnership with Synthos, we have set up a partnership, ORLEN Synthos Green Energy. Already in July, we applied to the National Atomic Agency for an opinion on this particular BWX-300 technology in order to secure a clearance to launch the construction of such a unit.
We do believe that we will receive that clearance shortly. Technical documentation is based on state-of-the-art American solutions. This is a safe technology, and we need to remember that. We will follow the steps or we'll follow suit. We will join both American and Canadian company. Our choice of a partner is absolutely not an accident. This is a major partner, and our corporation is very, very successful, and we do believe that this decision was a good one. As you can see, state-of-the-art technologies are taken into account. In addition to SMRs, we are also developing our both synthetic fuel solutions as well as hydrogen solutions. We are well advanced in terms of our vision for the future, and we are aware of the fact that we will need to have transformation, energy transformation, low emission solutions.
PKN ORLEN is an indispensable element of this particular, transformation, both in Poland and across Europe. Let's go back. Another question from infoPłock: What is the stage of the process in terms of the building of the Olefins unit, Olefins 3 unit? Let me first, say that the investment, we decided to, deliver in construction of, the Olefins 3 unit at Płock is the largest petrochemical investment in our region of, our region in Europe, for the past 20 years. This is a key project for the future growth of our, company, and we need to remember about the demand, for base poly, petrochemicals. This is one of the pillars of the process under which we will build a strong multi-utility business.
After we have delivered those investments, they will have a major effect, not only on the situation in the petrochemical market, also our standing in general, but also a major effect, positive effect for Płock in terms of the labor market. We will have new work. We'll have a lot of new work for both the inhabitants of Płock and the area around Płock. We will also inject additional money, around PLN 160 million per year, to the state budget. Coming back to your question, what is the current stage of the process? We have already secured the clearance work on the future. Complex is already underway. We're talking about the first installation works and assembly works.
We are building a container town, and it will accept around 160% new employees. In the peak period, we will have about 10,000 employees working in the area, and those employees will come from all around the world because we're not talking about only our employees, but also the employees of our subcontractors. This will be a huge number of people, which is obviously adequate to the scale of the investment. We have received from Shanghai, China, the first very heavy elements that will be used in the construction process to build that complex, olefin, Olefins 3 unit. This investment, as I said before, is progressing as planned. Just a side note from Mr. Szewczak. At the end, I'd like to throw in an additional comment here.
You can ask a question, how is it possible in the period, such a difficult period, with the war in Ukraine raging just outside our borders, high prices of feedstocks, raging prices of feedstocks, how is it possible that you are able to invest around PLN 20 billion in such a difficult year and also report very robust profit levels and EBITDA levels? How is it possible that you will launch new work on new technologies and also support the market and these clients, consumers at large, driving down certain prices, for instance, diesel, of diesel oil or paying PLN 14 million to support the gas market? How is it possible?
This has been possible not only due to the very consistent decisions taken by our management and professional management in general, but also, and we have to remember about that, but also this was due to the legislative measures and all the other efforts taken by the Polish government. They, those decisions resulted in the elimination of the fuel mafia, and we were able to control that situation. This means that this market is under control of Polish government and also the Polish consumers and Polish companies such as PKN ORLEN. You can see that in the market. There is fuel in the market, and there's stability in the market. This was, as I said, due to the concern and the focus on the Polish interest, economic interest.
The last question, which was posed by a couple of our viewers, what is the expected dividend for 2022? You have to be patient and wait for more days, couple of days. On the 29th of February, we will have the announcement of our new strategy. Mr. Obajtek will inform you about the dividend policy, but our declarations remain stable and our dividend policy will remain stable. For the details, you have to wait a couple of more days. Thank you very much for this presentation, and all your other answers will be answered by the press office. Thank you very much for your participation in this conference call. Thank you, my fellow speakers. Thank you. We will be here next time. Thank you very much. Goodbye.