Oil Declines Below $80

Oil fell below $80 a barrel for a third day on concern that a meeting of European Union leaders this week will fail to check the region’s debt crisis, leading to a reduction in fuel demand.

Futures dropped as much as 2 percent as George Soros warned that a failure by EU leaders to produce drastic measures could spell the demise of the bloc’s shared currency. Crude climbed earlier as oil and gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico were shut because of Tropical Storm Debby. Prices slid as the storm moved toward Florida and away from energy fields.

Norwegian offshore workers shut two production platforms after talks on pensions and wages failed, curtailing output in Europe’s second-largest oil and gas producer after Russia.

The walkout by oil-platform workers, which is the first industrywide action since 2004, targets about 165,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, according to the Industry Energy and Lederne unions.

The cost of the August futures on U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) on the NYMEX today declined to $ 78.33 a barrel. August futures price for North Sea petroleum mix of mark Brent fell $ 1.49 to $ 90.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange.