OMG! Seaoil offers lifetime free gas to consumers

In these days of almost weekly oil price increases, consumers would seize any opportunity to have a lifetime supply of free gas—if only they knew how.

At a press conference last week, Seaoil, the country’s largest independent fuel company, told everyone present how.

Seaoil is running last year’s “Lifetime Free Gas, Oh My Gas!” a second time this year from Aug. 18 to Nov. 18. It will award lifetime free gas to the winners of four raffle draws at the rate of one raffle draw per month.

Aside from four winners of lifetime free gas, 30 prizes of P10,000 worth of Seaoil gas coupons (GCs) will also be up for grabs, likewise 100,000 instant prizes through peel-off cards.

To qualify, a customer must gas up at least P500 worth of Extreme 97, Extreme 95, Extreme U, Extreme Diesel fuels and/or Seaoil lubricants at any retail station.

The number indicates the octane rating of each fuel. Seaoil fuels are Euro 4 compliant.

In 2009, Seaoil introduced Extreme 97, which had the highest octane rating in the Philippines until Petron came up with its Euro 6-compliant Blaze 100.

Seaoil, which was ranked no. 49 in BusinessWorld’s Top 1,000 Philippine Corporations in 2017, has 10 strategically located depots across the country supplying 400 retail stations nationwide.

The four winners of lifetime free gas last year were Monica Poliquit of Pasig City, Gerard Davis of Marikina City, Julio Carpio of Muntinlupa City and Jeffrey Olasa of Iloilo City.

Meanwhile, the cut-off dates this year for submission of coupons and online entries are at 11:59 p.m. of September 18, October 18, and November 18 to qualify for the first, second, and third raffle draws respectively.

Customers can double their chances of winning in the raffle draws if they register their entries online at www.lifetimefreegas.com.

In a press statement, Seaoil CEO Glenn Yu said that the 2017 lifetime free gas promo was so successful and well received that they are running it again this year, not just to thank loyal customers, but also to celebrate the successes of Seaoil over the past 40 years.

During the open forum, Seaoil senior manager for marketing communications Rey Jimenez added the info that last year’s OMG promo brought a 6 or 7 percent increase in transient customers.

He claimed that Seaoil sold 1.5 billion liters in 2017, representing 6 percent of the total fuel market in the country.

The Yu family members who own and manage Seaoil could not attend the OMG! press briefing because they were meeting with top executives of Caltex Australia (CAL) who were in Manila regarding the strategic partnership CAL recently formed with Seaoil.

CAL, a publicly owned company in Australia, has divested from Chevron, the global oil giant, and does not share any ownership with Chevron/Caltex in the Philippines.

Explaining the Seaoil-CAL partnership, Seaoil vice president for corporate and consumer marketing Jayvee de la Fuente said that CAL owns a trading company in Singapore from where Seaoil can get fuel at a more competitive price.

This, plus strategic programs with CAL, would spur Seaoil’s growth over the next five years.

Rey Jimenez said that CAL is twice the size of the Philippines’ Big 3 oil companies combined, and owns 2,000 stations in Australia.

CAL also offers retail products that Seaoil may eventually bring to the Philippines.

Seaoil fuels are imported from modern refineries in Singapore, Japan and South Korea, which have a higher Nelson Complexity Index (NCI) than the two refineries in the Philippines.

According to Seaoil, higher NCI indicates more advanced facilities that produce better quality products.

Jimenez pointed out that Seaoil’s gasoline and diesel products are powered with STP, the preferred fuel additives brand of Nascar racers in the United States.

STP additives, he said, improve engine performance by removing and preventing the buildup of carbon deposits.

The other competitive advantage that Jimenez cited is the testing of Seaoil fuel products three times a day for water contamination in underground tanks of retail stations. If the dipstick turns brown, water has been mixed with the fuel.