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Oil falls, protests continue
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September 13, 2000: 7:16 a.m. ET
Brent crude falls, but UK petrol pumps still closed, OPEC site gets hacked
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Oil prices continued to decline on Wednesday, after OPEC agreed last weekend to ramp up supply and try to rein in the recent surge in the cost of crude.
In London, Brent crude for October delivery fell 69 cents to $31.79 in midday trading on the International Petroleum Exchange.
But across Britain, increasing numbers of gas stations were closed having run out of fuel, despite a pledge by Prime Minister Tony Blair late Tuesday to reopen supplies lines between refineries and main street fuel outlets. Protestors picketing the gates of most of Britain's oil refineries have succeeded in keeping gas tankers off the road for the past two days.
U.K. government officials admitted it could take days or weeks to end Britain's worst petroleum shortage in 25 years. Europe faced more chaos from fuel shortages and road blocks as truckers, farmers and others incensed by heavy fuel taxes on top of high crude oil prices began another day of protests.
Belgian truck drivers maintained blockades in Brussels for a fourth day and sealed motorways throughout the country, blocking border crossings with Germany, the Netherlands and France. New outpourings of anger threatened to spread the protests to Ireland and Spain.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which agreed at the weekend to raise oil production by 800,000 barrels a day, was deleting graffiti from its Internet site Wednesday after a hacker scrawled: "We really need to focus on the poverty-stricken countries, who don't even have enough money for aspirin."
The web site www.opec.org was still not accessible by 7:00 a.m. EST. 
--from staff and wire reports
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