LONDON—World oil prices fell on Tuesday as the dollar strengthened and after recent gains for crude partly spurred by hopes of improved energy demand, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery eased $0.36 to $78.54 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for January delivery dipped $0.32 to $78.44 a barrel in London trading.
"The oil price remains glued to movements in the dollar," said analyst David Hufton at PVM Oil Associates.
A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities—like crude oil and gold—more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies. That tends to reduce demand for such raw materials.
In a separate development for the oil market on Tuesday, Nigeria's main armed group accused the military of staging a dawn raid on a village in the restive crude-producing region, saying it could threaten the ongoing peace talks.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said the 6:00 am (0500 GMT) raid "extensively destroyed" the residence of its former commander Christian don Pedro.
No arms were found, it said, describing the attack as "an act of bad faith and a breach of the trust these ex-fighters placed in the Nigerian government with their voluntary surrender."
Thousands of rebels who fought a two-year "oil war" recently laid down arms in response to a government amnesty.
At the peak of the unrest, output of crude by Nigeria, the world's eighth-biggest exporter of oil, fell by a third.
Following the amnesty deal which ended last month, Nigeria's oil output has risen to around 1.9 million barrels per day, according to the International Energy Association.
Crude prices had won support on Monday from a weak dollars and data showing that the Japanese economy expanded 1.2 percent in the July-September period.
It was the second straight quarter of expansion in the world's second-largest economy.
Meanwhile, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) president Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos has signaled that $75 to $80 oil is an adequate level to allow for a global economic recovery.
"(The range of) $75 to $80 a barrel is a good price... for the recovery of the world economy," de Vasconcelos, who is also Angola's oil minister, said at a Gulf energy security conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
