Investing in Oil Not Plausible Below $70: OPEC Chief

Investment is not economically plausible below $70 a barrel, OPEC’s Secretary General Abdalla El-Badri told CNBC Tuesday, ahead of Thursday's OPEC quarterly meeting in Vienna.

He did not think $50 a barrel oil would permit investment in the future, he said.

"I think we can live with 75, 85, 90 dollars, more or less, but we don't want to see a very high price because it's not to our benefit," he said.

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi has been stressing that investment is crucial at this time. He told CNBC that it is important that richer countries help poorer countries with energy investments, saying, "the big countries have a lot of money, industrialized countries have a lot of money, so they can help the ones that don't."

Oil prices spiked Wednesday morning to $63.45 after al-Naimi told reporters they would continue to rise because the global economy has and will continue to strengthen. It is currently trading at around $63 — up from a low of $32.40 in December.

OPEC is expected to leave existing output targets in place and is stressing the need for improved compliance with existing output curbs. Analysts estimate that compliance among OPEC members of the 4.2 million barrel output curb is approximately 80%.