Oil held above $62 a barrel Wednesday after OPEC's biggest member Saudi Arabia said the global economy had strengthened enough to cope with oil at $75-$80 a barrel. Speaking ahead of an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' meeting in Vienna on Thursday, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said oil prices would continue to rise, recovering from lows near $32 at the turn of the year. "The price rise is a function of optimism, better things are coming in the future," Naimi told reporters in Vienna. "We see offshoots of recovery," he added. "Demand is picking up, especially in Asia." The minister said OPEC did not need to change its output policy, which has already seen the group agree to remove 4.2 million barrels per day of oil from the market in a bid to shore up prices battered by recession. U.S. crude oil [US@CL.1 62.54 0.09 (+0.14%)] for July delivery was up after hitting a six-month high of $63.45 a barrel. London Brent crude [GB@IB.1 61.68 0.44 (+0.72%)] rose. Oil prices gained more than 1 percent on Tuesday, bolstered by a jump in U.S. consumer confidence. Signs of a modest recovery in Japanese exports on Wednesday further boosted expectations the world is slowly emerging from its worst financial crisis in decades. "We're not really seeing a strong recovery yet, but I think OPEC are implying they don't see oil demand falling any further," VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said. "Everyone talks about green shoots but we're not completely out of the woods — to see a real price rally we'll need to see a larger pick-up in demand." Global oil demand is seen falling at the fastest rate since 1981 this year, with the International Energy Agency, adviser to 28 industrialized nations, predicting a 2.56 million barrel per day fall.

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