Opec aims to keep oil prices at a "reasonable" $50-$60 a barrel, the head of its research arm said today.
Hasan Qabazard also reiterated that Opec did not want to see prices return to the $78.40 a barrel record high touched last July, which threatened to choke off growth.
"We would hope to maintain prices as they are today, which are not only conducive to (our) investment but also to developing alternatives that will complement our efforts to meet the world's future energy needs," he said.
"Prices today we believe are reasonable. We hope these prices will stay in the level where they are, between $50-$60 a barrel.
"We believe they will stay in this range for the coming few years," Mr Qabazard said in the Thai capital where he is accompanying Opec President Mohammed bin Dhaen al-Hamli at an energy forum.
Many oil ministers and analysts have suggested that such a price range would be sufficient to justify the tens of billions of dollars of investment that Opec nations are making to lift capacity, without risking world economic growth.
But the group, which controls over a third of world output, has shied away from setting itself any formal price targets or reference bands, preferring to focus on inventory levels when making decisions about production policy.