LONDON - OPEC is ready to invest funds to aid the production of oil amid a recovery in energy demand and rising prices for crude, the cartel's chief Abdalla Salem El-Badri said on Tuesday.
"We, OPEC, are ready to invest," the secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries told Oil & Money 2009, a London conference for the world's energy industry.
Most of OPEC's 12 member countries are satisfied with current oil prices, which on Tuesday briefly hit a one year-high of above 80 dollars a barrel.
El-Badri argued Tuesday that 60-70 dollar oil would not be enough to allow adequate investment levels by OPEC, which pumps 40 percent of the world's oil.
"60 to 70 dollars does not permit a huge investment," he told conference delegates gathered in the British capital.
"You need more money to invest in the off-shore, in non-conventional oil," he added.
OPEC saw oil prices bounce back above 80 dollars thanks to a weak dollar and mounting optimism about a global economic recovery.
Despite this week's upturn, oil prices remain far below the historic peaks of more than 147 dollars seen in mid-2008.
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