Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing and delivery firm Grab will be providing immediate, interim relief for its drivers as global oil prices surged due to the conflict in the Middle East, its chief executive said.

The company has launched immediate initiatives this week to help its so-called driver-partners manage the rising cost of fuel, according to Anthony Tan, who is also the Co-founder of Grab.

“Because global oil prices remain unpredictable, we’ve focused first on providing immediate, interim relief – primarily through additional incentives and rebates – to best cushion the impact on partner earnings in the markets that don’t have price controls,” he wrote in a Linkedin post on Thursday.

He said in Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, a mix of spot bonuses, incentive rebates and petrol vouchers for Grab’s “driver-partners” are already live.

“We are closely monitoring the situation in the other countries that have existing public fuel subsidies, and are developing contingency plans across the region should circumstances change,” he added.

Tan said the conflict in the Middle East is “deeply concerning”, and the resulting surge in global oil prices is being felt across Southeast Asia.

Beyond this initial one-time support, Tan said the company is in active discussions with governments, petrol companies, and EV partners to secure more sustainable, long-term ways to protect its “driver- and delivery-partners’ earnings.”

Oil prices, which shot up earlier in the week to nearly $120 a barrel before retreating, jumped almost 10 percent back above $100 a barrel in Asian trade on Thursday amid renewed fears about supply disruption, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Iran has made clear it intends to impose a prolonged economic shock, with the spokesperson for Iran’s military command saying in remarks directed at the US on Wednesday: “Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilised.”, the report added.

Grab is betting on artificial intelligence and expansion of new services such as online groceries and financial products to triple profit by 2028, the company’s president told Reuters in an interview last month.

Grab has set goals for the next three years of growing revenue by more than 20 percent each year and tripling EBITDA to $1.5 billion in 2028 from last year’s level, President and Chief Operating Officer Alex Hungate said in the interview then.

Grab aims to achieve its 2028 targets by getting more efficiency from its main app and delivery network, he said then. As users already use Grab frequently, it can bundle services such as mobility, food delivery and groceries at a lower cost, he added.

Last month, Nasdaq-listed Grab announced its first-ever full-year net profit with its 2025 results, 14 years after it was founded and following billions of dollars in fundraising, the report added.

Grab posts first full year net profit with 20 percent revenue growth