Saudi: $100 a barrel 'reasonable' price for oil

OPEC's largest oil producing member Saudi Arabia said on Monday that $100 a barrel is a "reasonable" price for oil as prices of the crude rose in Asian trade. "In 1997, I thought 20 dollars was reasonable. In 2006, I though 27 dollars 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'." Oil prices rose in Asian trade Monday after Cyprus and its international creditors struck a 10 billion euro 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.