FINANCIAL coach Elmaerwin Sibucao usually drives his Chevy Trailblazer between Ilocos and Manila, passing through Cabanatuan to fetch his fiancée, and that takes up quite a lot of mileage and fuel.
Typically, he would gas up on popular oil brands like Petron, Shell, or Caltex, but when the fuel prices went up significantly much to his dismay, he had to look for better options.
Six months ago, he heard about PriceLOCQ, a mobile app that allows consumers to buy prepaid gas from Seaoil. Yet, since he’s more inclined to patronize other competing brands, he dismissed the idea of checking it out.
But when pump prices skyrocketed recently, Sibucao decided to download the app. He registered on the platform just this Monday.
“I remembered the app when I took notice of the recent P5.85 increase in diesel and chose to try it,” he shared.
Sibucao tried PriceLOCQ and prepaid for a supply of gas in a Seaoil station in Cabanatuan, since that station sells diesel cheaper than in Metro Manila and Ilocos.
He was thrilled to learn that he can buy digital fuel with a locked-in price and store it until he needs to gas up again.
“My favorite feature of the app is that you can have your own inventory of gas without hassle,” he said. “Another feature that the gasoline boy shared was that I can use it in any Seaoil station that uses PriceLOCQ.”
Since trying it out on Monday, Sibucao has been advocating for the use of the app on social media.
Fuel hedging, retail level
PriceLOCQ is a mobile app developed by its founder Mark Yu, who is also an executive at Seaoil. The platform allows consumers and fleet managers to buy fuel when they want, have the fuel stored both digitally and physically, and redeem the fuel with ease from any participating Seaoil gas station. The app was launched in mid-2020 amid the pandemic.
“We are democratizing the ability for people to buy fuel when they want —that’s the main element,” he said in an interview.
Yu admitted that prepaid gas was not the initial business idea he had in mind. He initially conceptualized some sort of a digital token based on oil, as blockchain was fast becoming popular in the Philippines in 2020.
“The idea of oil tokens evolved to providing something that will really benefit the end consumers. We want to empower each individual to participate in the energy market,” he said.
Yu explained that PriceLOCQ essentially makes the concept of fuel hedging available to consumers. By buying fuel in advance, users are able to reduce their exposure to volatile and rising fuel costs, enabling them to save money on fuel expenses.
PriceLOCQ has become more relevant today, as fuel prices continue to rise amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the low fuel supply in the global market.
“Last Monday, a day before the price increase, the daily sales that we had was 2.5x of our February sale,” he said. “We want to be able to cushion the effect of the rising fuel costs by allowing people to buy at a lower price.”
Currently, PriceLOCQ allows users to store up to 600 liters of gas digitally. It is currently available in close to 300 Seaoil retail outlets.
Expansion plans
YU noted that he is now in talks with other fuel companies for partnerships to expand the offers of PriceLOCQ beyond Seaoil.
“In areas where Seaoil is not present, we want to be present there as well. Hence, we are open and in talks with other players as well,” he said.
Down the line, Yu said he plans to transform PriceLOCQ from a prepaid gas purchasing platform into an ecosystem of mobility solutions that help bring people from Point A to Point B more efficiently.
These include partnerships with RFID companies, parking solutions, selling of insurance, and car servicing, among others.
“The long-term vision is to transform PriceLOCQ into a platform for mobility—anything and everything that has to do with people being mobile,” he said.
He also hopes for the company to become a unicorn, a startup whose valuation has reached $1 billion, and become a global player in the digital prepaid gas space.
“In terms of growth, we want to be a unicorn and I think with this we’ll also get inquiries from other countries. We believe that this type of need is not unique in the Philippines,” Yu said.