"The price between 70 to 80 (dollars a barrel) is the one encouraging in investment and developing new or current oil fields," he said. "It falls below 70 (dollars), the investment would freeze, which will lead to a crisis in supply in the future."

Nigerian Oil Minister Odein Ajumogobia also said they would be "very happy" with oil at $75.

Kuwait's oil minister, Mohammed al-Aleem, warned the market is oversupplied, and he didn't rule out the need for OPEC to cut production further. But he, too, said he believed there was no need for OPEC to make a decision in Cairo on cutting output.

"We believe a decision could be taken ... but I think it will happen in Algeria," he said, before the start of Saturday's session.

Al-Aleem said current prices could undercut investment in future projects and were not good for either producers or consumers.

The recent price drop has left OPEC price hawks Venezuela and Iran clamoring for further reductions of at least 1 million barrels a day. Both countries need crude at about $90 per barrel to meet spending needs aimed in part at propping up domestically unpopular regimes.

Other OPEC members, such as Nigeria and Ecuador, face budget problems too, making them reluctant to implement more cuts that might shrink revenue further.

The Saudis are better positioned to cope with the drop in prices. The International Monetary Fund estimates Riyadh needs crude in the range of about $50 per barrel for 2008 fiscal accounts to break even.

The statements by the king, however, indicate that normally dovish Saudi Arabia is ready to see the price rise, indicating cuts will eventually take place.

OPEC itself, along with the International Energy Agency, has significantly revised down its projections for demand growth in 2009.

Meanwhile, global crude inventories are growing, as evidenced by a U.S. government report showing a surprisingly large 7 million barrel build in stocks last week in the world's largest energy consumer.

OPEC's last round of cuts would put its total production at about 30.5 million barrels per day, according to the IEA. That is about 500,000 barrels per day higher than the forecast call on OPEC crude in much of 2009.

A Nov. 24 New York-based Oppenheimer & Co. research report says that for oil to rebound to $65 a barrel, OPEC would need to cut crude production by more than 3 million barrels per day from its September levels — a move it called highly unlikely.

Associated Press Writer Hadeel al-Shalchi contributed to this report.