Firepower International

Firepower International was a fraudulent company. It was advertised as a Hong Kong-based company owned and operated by Global Fuel Technologies Ltd, specializing in technology purporting to reduce the fuel consumption and environmental impact of petrol-operated vehicles. There were other offices in Sydney, China, Rhodes, Athens and Papua New Guinea, according to the now-defunct official company website. However, "in reality it was a handful of people in an industrial estate in Perth", who were conducting a complex of fraudulent operations. The original entity—Firepower Operations Pty Ltd—was a $1 company, first registered in December 2004, owned by Firepower Holdings Group Ltd, a company with an address in the British Virgin Islands.

Through connections created with Australian federal ministers, trade officials and their networks, the governments of Britain, Russia, Romania and many others were persuaded to believe Firepower offered important solutions to global warming and the peak oil energy crisis. However, after questions were raised about the efficacy of the 'Firepower Pill' and related products in reducing engine fuel consumption, the Firepower organisation's principal, Timothy Francis (Tim) Johnston, was claimed by media critics to have perpetrated a large-scale confidence trick or scam, the subject of investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). In July 2011, ASIC banned Johnston from managing any company for twenty years.

Firepower International's main product was the Firepower Pill, advertised as being able to "lower fuel consumption, reduce emissions, [and] clean and maintain your engine". The product was claimed to work by "burning more of the heavier elements of your fuel, increasing power and fuel economy" and because more of the fuel is consumed in the combustion process, hydrocarbon and carbon-dioxide emissions are lowered. Inserted into a vehicle's fuel tank, a single Firepower Pill was advertised as being able to treat up to 60 litres of petrol. (Elsewhere, a larger pill was advertised, claimed to be able to treat 200 litres of petrol or diesel).

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