In comments that signalled that it may exploit soaring global demand for oil, the cartel’s top official said that the body could sharply raise its target ceiling for crude prices.

Adnan Shihab-Eldin, Opec’s acting secretary-general, said that a price of $50 a barrel, based on US light crude, might be a realistic upper limit for the cartel’s new target price range.

Mr Shihab-Eldin suggested this might be an option for the price ceiling because existing record prices at or above this level did not seem to jeopardise global economic growth.

In January Opec abandoned its $22 to $28 a barrel target price range for its crudes after oil prices had exceeded these levels for more than a year. The cartel is expected to set a new target band for prices as soon as September.

“I can tell you that a more realistic [level] would be above $28 or $30,” Mr Shihab-Eldin said in an interview on Australian television.

“On the upper side it has to be acceptable to the global economic growth, and maybe $50 WTI [US West Texas Intermediate crude] seems to be in that direction, but we are still continuing our studies,” he said.

The remarks reinforced earlier comments by Mr Shihab- Eldin in which he suggested that the cartel’s member states are moving towards agreement on a range of $40 to $50 a barrel as a stable medium-term price target.

US crude at $50 equates to a price of about $43 to $45 a barrel for Opec’s heavier, more sour basket of crudes, which are more difficult to refine.

The comments from Mr Shihab-Eldin come after a warning last week from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that oil prices could remain high and volatile in coming decades and that the West will become increasingly reliant on Opec for crude supplies.

The IMF suggested that the cartel would probably cash in on rising world demand and try to push prices higher. London’s Brent crude was down $1.15 at $52.89 a barrel on Friday.

The cost of oil will be a key issue at this week’s spring meetings of the IMF and of finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading economies. The G7 ministers are likely to renew calls for action to restrain prices, make oil markets more transparent, and put more pressure on Opec to curb prices.