March 29 (Bloomberg) -- OPEC members Kuwait and Qatar are comfortable with current oil prices of about $50 a barrel as the global recession saps energy demand.

“Of course, yes,” Kuwait’s Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmed al- Abdullah al-Sabah told reporters today when asked if he was happy with current crude prices, which rose above $50 a barrel last week. “It goes with the economic situation.”

Crude oil has been trading above $50 a barrel in New York for more than a week, after reaching a record $147.27 last July. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, supplier of about 40 percent of the world’s crude, will meet on May 28 to decide whether to cut production to help push prices up further.

It’s too early to predict what OPEC’s decision will be at its next meeting, Qatar’s Oil Minister Abdullah Bin Hamad Al- Attiyah said in Kuwait City, where he is attending a conference.

“We believe growth in the international economy is still very weak -- it doesn’t mean we are going to cut production in May,” al-Attiyah said in an interview today. “The crisis has not reached the bottom so we have to be very careful.”

The U.S. government last week proposed financing as much as $1 trillion in purchases of distressed assets by investment funds to help the world’s largest oil consumer emerge from recession. The U.K. economy’s contraction in the fourth quarter last year was deeper than previously estimated as consumer spending and construction slumped the most since 1980, a March 27 report showed.

Output and Prices

OPEC agreed on March 15 to keep output quotas unchanged, saying members needed to reduce supply by a further 800,000 barrels a day to comply with targets. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter and de facto leader of OPEC, argued against a new output cut for fear of further damaging the world economy by raising energy prices too quickly.

OPEC may reduce quotas further at its May meeting after analyzing the world economy, the group’s president Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos said yesterday, adding that the “best price” for oil is about $75 a barrel.

Crude oil for May delivery settled at $52.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on March 27. The contract rose 0.6 percent last week and prices are up 17 percent this year.

Oil prices will remain between $40 and $50 a barrel this year and are unlikely to reach $60, Qatar’s al-Attiyah said. “The current oil price is not related to demand and supply -- it is higher mainly because of a weak dollar.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Ayesha Daya in Kuwait at adaya1@bloomberg.net; Fiona MacDonald in Kuwait at fmacdonald4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 29, 2009 09:55 EDT