By Rachel Graham Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil declined for a fifth day, the longest losing streak since July, before a government report expected to show U.S. oil stockpiles rose last week and as the dollar strengthened against the euro. Stockpiles of crude oil added 500,000 barrels in the week ended Dec. 4 from 339.9 million the prior week, according to a Bloomberg survey. West Texas Intermediate futures for delivery the following month have traded between $70 and $82 a barrel in the past two months. “WTI is under pressure because of weak crude oil demand in the U.S., weak crude runs in refineries,” Christophe Barret, an analyst at Calyon in London, said by phone. “The correlation between oil and the dollar is very strong today.” Crude oil for January delivery fell as much as $1.17, or 1.6 percent, to $72.76 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and traded at $72.85 as of 12:39 p.m. London time. The dollar gained to $1.4775 against the euro after falling as low as $1.4867. Oil prices have fallen 7 percent this month, partly as a stronger dollar curbed the appeal of commodities as an alternative investment. The dollar was bolstered partly by a better-than-forecast U.S. jobless report last week. Brent crude oil for January settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange fell as much as 78 cents, or 1 percent, to $75.65 a barrel and traded at $75.73 a barrel at 12:38 p.m. local time. The U.S. Department of Energy is scheduled to release the data at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow in Washington. To contact the reporter on this story: Rachel Graham in London rgraham13@bloomberg.net

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