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Some preliminary discussions on the possibility of Portugal asking for help if its financing costs on markets become too high have taken place since July, the source said.

No formal talks on aid have started yet, a number of euro zone sources said, but the pressure was rising in the Eurogroup, which brings together euro zone finance ministers.

"France and Germany have indicated in the context of the Eurogroup that Portugal should apply for help sooner rather than later," the senior source said, adding that Finland and the Netherlands had expressed similar views.

Earlier on Sunday a Portuguese government spokesman denied a German magazine report that Lisbon was under pressure from Berlin and Paris to seek a bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Many policymakers hope EU/IMF financing for Portugal would ring fence the euro zone debt crisis, in which Greece and Ireland have already taken bailouts.

Help for Lisbon would aim to protect Spain which might be next in line, but whose financing needs would stretch current euro zone aid capabilities to the limit.

"The real battle will be the battle of Spain -- but there I think we have much higher chances of success," the source said.

Asked to estimate the possible size of a program Portugal could need, the source said:

"More than 50 billion euros and less than 100 billion euros, say between 60 and 80 billion, but this is off the cuff, because we don't know the needs of the Portuguese banking sector."

Portugal is viewed by many economists as the peripheral euro zone country that is most likely to follow Ireland and Greece as it grapples to cut its debts and borrowing costs.

"Portugal has not requested it -- you cannot force somebody to want something," a second senior euro zone source said. "Strictly arithmetically speaking, it would not be necessary, but given the hysterics of some market participants it may become useful."

Pressure on Lisbon to ask for aid has grown since yields on Portuguese paper rose last week to levels that many see as unsustainable, the first source said.

There had already been pressure on Lisbon to ask for financial help before an EU leaders' summit in mid-December, but to no effect, the first source said, because Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates opposes such a move.

"There are still memories in Portugal of the IMF program of the seventies, and the loss of sovereignty that it entails," the source said.