OPEC's largest oil producing member Saudi Arabia said Monday that $100 a barrel is a "reasonable" price for oil while its neighbor Kuwait said the current price is "fair" and the market stable.

"In 1997, I thought $20 was reasonable. In 2006, I thought $27  was reasonable," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters in Kuwait City on the sidelines of a Gulf oil conference. "Now, it is around $100 ... and I say again 'it is reasonable.'"

Kuwait's Oil Minister Hani Hussein said the "current oil price is fair."

"There is a little bit of oversupply but we think that the market is stable at the moment," he said.

Oil prices rose in Asian trade Monday after Cyprus and its international creditors struck a 10 billion euro ($12.9 billion) bailout deal, averting collapse of the country's banking system.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, added 52 cents to $94.23 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for May delivery increased 62 cents to $108.30 in afternoon trade.

"We think that the prices now reflect the market (situation) in general ... Basically, the market is balanced," the Kuwaiti minister said.

AFP