FuelClub Discount

Crude oil prices fell to a three-month low on Friday, briefly touching the $111 level after the Dollar muscled higher. OPEC predicted the world’s thirst for fuel will next year fall to its lowest point since 2002.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $1.24 to settle at $113.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after falling to $111.34, its lowest since May 2 and more than $35 - or 24 percent - below its July 11 trading record above $147.

An OPEC forecast of lower demand put downward pressure on prices. In its monthly oil report, the organisation forecast world appetite for oil this year overall will fall by 30,000 barrels a day.

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General Motors Wednesday announced plans to invest 15 billion baht - $445 million - to build a new plant to manufacture clean, green turbo-diesel engines in Thailand.

“This plant will enable us to deliver to our customers the cleanest, most efficient diesel engine technology available,” said Steve Carlisle, president for General Motors Southeast Asia Operations and Chevrolet Sales (Thailand). “This is crucial in these days of rising fuel prices.”

The Thai investment extends Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner’s strategy of expanding in the Asia-Pacific region, where sales grew about 10 per cent in the first half in contrast to slumping demand in the US. GM is in danger of being overtaken as the world’s top auto maker by Toyota as it closes US plants.

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AMR Corp.’s American Airlines said it would accelerate its purchase of 737-800 aircraft from Boeing Co. to modernize its fleet and retire older, fuel-guzzling airplanes.

The move, which speeds up the delivery of an existing order for 70 737s and adds six to the order, follows American’s decision earlier this year to accelerate plans to begin replacing its aging fleet of 300 MD-80s. That aircraft, a workhorse airplane that American uses for most of its domestic flights, has an average age of 18 years at the airline and burns about 35% more fuel than the 737s that will replace them, American said.

Like other carriers, American, the world’s biggest as measured by passenger traffic, is responding to the recent run-up in fuel prices by grounding aircraft and reorganizing its fleet to fly more fuel-efficient planes. Aging aircraft are a problem for most of the big U.S. carriers, which kept older planes longer than they would have preferred, as they restructured following the post-Sept. 11 industry crisis.

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On Tuesday, August 19, 2008, Clean Diesel will hold a conference call at 10:00 a.m. ET to discuss the results and provide a general business update. The call will be available on the Company’s website at www.cdti.com, or by calling: 877 407 8031 U.S. callers, or +1 201 689 8031 for international callers. The conference call will be led by Dr. Bernhard Steiner, CEO and Ann Ruple, CFO of Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc.

A webcast will also be archived on the Company’s website. Additionally, a telephone replay of the call will be available approximately one hour following the call through midnight Eastern Time on Monday, August 25th, 2008 and can be accessed by calling: 877 660 6853 (U.S. callers) or +1 201 612 7415 (international callers) and entering account number 286 and conference ID 293486.

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Oil prices could be lower than previously expected next year, but the outlook for home heating oil and natural gas signals more pain this winter, according to a government report released Tuesday.

In its August short-term energy outlook, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said it expects crude prices to average $124 a barrel in 2009. That’s down from July when the EIA projected an average price of $133 per barrel.

“Prospects of improved oil market fundamentals over the next 18 months point to an easing in the market balance and price weakness over the near term,” the report said.

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The lights are dim, the mikes are off, and the television cameras dark in the US House of Representatives. But minority Republicans – sensing traction with voters on the issue of offshore drilling – aren’t giving up the floor.

Nearly 90 GOP lawmakers, about 40 percent of the Republican caucus, have come back to Washington since the House voted to adjourn on Aug. 1 to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to allow a vote to lift a moratorium on offshore drilling.

“The American people deserve more access to American oil, and Congress should be in session until we vote,” said Rep. Mike Pence (R) of Indiana, speaking to a chamber half-filled with tourists, escorted by GOP lawmakers to break off their tours of the Capitol and take a seat on the floor. He urged the tourists, many of whom seemed astonished to find themselves on the floor of the US House of Representatives, to “call to a Democratic member of Congress from your state” to demand a vote.

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