Exclusive: Ecuador says OPEC sees $80-$90 oil as "adequate"

LAGO AGRIO, Ecuador | Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:35am EDT

LAGO AGRIO, Ecuador (Reuters) - OPEC sees oil prices between $80 to $90 as "adequate" and has no plans for an emergency meeting because the market is well supplied despite unrest in Libya, Ecuador's oil minister said on Wednesday.

Oil Minister Wilson Pastor told Reuters in an interview that OPEC did not want prices "shooting up" because that could slow global economic growth.

"For OPEC, a normal price range that would not affect the economy and would let oil producers have profits in the long term is between $80 and $90 a barrel," Pastor said, adding that he saw prices stabilizing in the next few months.

"At this point in time, OPEC believes that a range of $80 to $90 per barrel will be adequate," he said.

OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri said in Iran on Tuesday that he did not expect crude prices to fall below $100 this year, even though there was no shortage in the market.

Ecuador is the smallest producing member of OPEC, with total crude output of around 500,000 barrels per day.

Pastor reiterated that OPEC was not planning to call an emergency meeting because the global oil market is "very well supplied" despite violence in Libya.

(Writing by Eduardo Garcia; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Lisa Shumaker)

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