By Dan Strumpf Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Oil prices continued to slide for the third straight session Tuesday, as European debt concerns weighed on prices. Light, sweet crude for December delivery lost $1.38, or 1.6%, at $83.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange fell $1.18, or 1.4%, at $85.58 a barrel. Speculation persisted early Tuesday over whether Ireland, and possibly Portugal, will accept a bailout from euro-zone neighbors. The dollar gained ground as markets awaited the outcome of a key meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels. The ICE Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose to 78.695 from 78.518 recently. It was the index's highest level since early October. A stronger dollar frequently pressures crude prices lower as the dollar-denominated commodity becomes more expensive in other currencies. Tuesday marked the third straight trading day of declines in Nymex crude after prices hit a two-year high of $87.81 last week. The decline has been largely fueled by concerns over possible monetary tightening in China, the world's second-largest petroleum producer. "Macroeconomic concerns surrounding European debt and Chinese monetary policy that marred much of the beginning of this year have become influential again," Barclays Capital oil analysts wrote in a research report Tuesday. Oil traders will be looking for direction this week from reports on U.S. oil and fuel inventories. The Department of Energy is scheduled to release its weekly report on stockpiles Wednesday, while the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, is due to release a similar report later Tuesday. "The inventories are going to be critical," said Jason Schenker, president of Prestige Economics in Austin, Texas. "If you get another big draw on the product side, that could really be the compelling story that supercharges this market on the back end of the week." Oil prices have been restrained by above-average inventory levels recently, but the DOE reported a hefty decline in oil stocks in last week's report, signaling that stockpiles may have peaked. Front-month December reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, recently declined 3.45 cents, or 1.6%, at $2.1605 a gallon. December heating oil fell 4.05 cents, or 1.7%, at $2.3304 a gallon. -By Dan Strumpf, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2818; dan.strumpf@dowjones.com.

Source