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US road deaths are at their lowest since the 1960s as the rocketing price of petrol puts a strain on America’s love affair with the car.

The number of fatalities is on track to fall by 10% this year to around 37,000, the lowest since 1961, according to research suggesting the reduction is due to people cutting out leisure travel to save money.

Nationwide, traffic deaths last dipped below 37,000 in 1961. The number peaked in 1972, at about 55,000, and in recent years has hovered near 42,000.

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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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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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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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Crude oil prices, which have fallen by a fifth after touching a peak of $147 per barrel on July 11, is not only likely to provide relief for oil marketing companies but also result in substantial savings in country’s import bill by as much as $20 billion, if the prices stay at the current level.

For the three public sector firms- Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL)- the sharp drop in oil prices would mean corresponding reduction in loss for the petroleum products they sell below the production cost and more cash in hand to smoothly run their day-to-day operations.

At the current price level of US$116.9 per barrel for the Indian basket of crude oil, the under-realization loss for oil marketing companies is pegged at Rs180,000 crore for the financial year ending March 2008, around 25 per cent lower than the estimate when the price of oil nearly touched US$142 per barrel.

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World Fuel Services Corporation, a global leader in the marketing and sale of marine, aviation and land fuel products and related services, today reported second quarter GAAP net income of $20.5 million, ($0.72 and $0.71 per share on a basic and diluted basis, respectively), compared to $17.0 million ($0.61 and $0.58 per share on a basic and diluted basis, respectively), in the second quarter of 2007. Non-GAAP net income for the second quarter, which excludes share-based compensation and amortization of acquired intangible assets, was $22.8 million ($0.79 and $0.78 per share on a basic and diluted basis, respectively), compared to $18.7 million, ($0.67 and $0.64 per share on a basic and diluted basis, respectively), in the second quarter of 2007. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results has been provided in the financial statement tables included in this press release. An explanation of these measures is also included below under the heading “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Tags: fuel costs, profit rising, World Fuel Services Corporation
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