But they may struggle to find common ground over how and when that ascent should start, and what producers should do in the meantime to balance the desire for relatively low prices against the risk of a growing glut of stockpiled crude.
Members of Opec including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – both of whom will attend Sunday's biennial meeting of Asian consumers and Gulf exporters – have made clear they will tolerate $50 a barrel to help pull the world from recession.
But they have also said they believe $70-$80 is a more appropriate long-term price. Many analysts also believe that slightly higher prices are necessary to encourage investment in new energy sources, both traditional and alternative, to avoid a repeat of the price shock of the past five years.
Moving too early to nudge prices higher risks squashing the first shoots of an economic recovery, while waiting too long risks another speculative spike in prices.
"The current level around $50 risks triggering a bubble over the longer-term," said Takeo Okuhara, an economist at Daiwa SB Asset Management. "It is a shared view among producers and consumers that it is important to maintain a system that ensures stable supply in the medium to longer-term."
Saudi Arabia, the sole Arab member of the G20, has played a moderating role, but now faces growing calls from some in Opec to tighten the taps again in order to draw down oil inventories that are swelling, both on land and at sea.
Algeria's minister was quoted as saying the group would take a "big risk" if it didn't cut supply further when it meets on May 28; Libya's oil minister said on Wednesday that he wanted OPEC members to comply fully with the 4.2 million barrels a day of output constraints imposed since last September.
While many Opec members could live with $50 oil for some time after six years of fat revenues, some like Venezuela and Iran need higher prices to stay in the black. Venezuela's oil minister suggested last week that Opec set a $70-$90 target.
Sunday's largely political meeting will not agree any new policy, but it will give both sides a chance to set out medium-term aims after 12 months of unprecedented volatility.
SHIFTING BALANCE, "DEMAND SECURITY"
It will be the first major producer-consumer dialogue since a global gathering in London in December, just as oil touched a low of $32.40 a barrel, having fallen by $115 from its peak five months earlier. Oil has since rebounded, hovering near $50 a barrel for the past month.
While a few rays of hope have begun to pierce the bleakest economic outlook since World War Two, data this week has underscored the fragility of any recovery.
And data of a different sort has also highlighted Opec's bind. US crude stocks kept climbing to touch a 19-year high last week, and the armada of oil tankers holding crude and fuel at sea is estimated to have swelled to 100 million barrels.
The senior officials from 21 countries also meet amid a rapid shift in the balance of bargaining power: Asia, long anxious over its heavy dependence on Gulf crude, has more clout than ever as Middle East producers look for "demand security" – guarantees that its customers will not desert it for new crude from Brazil or Kazakhstan, or subsidised energy alternatives like biofuel.
"At current price levels ... producers remain wary of making investments unless they get a commitment for demand," said Tomomichi Akuta, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting.
Asia depends on the Middle East for more than three-quarters of its imported oil, a figure unlikely to ease soon given tiny reserves. But Gulf producers also depend on Asia to buy more than two-thirds of their oil, and countries like Kuwait and the UAE sell almost their entire production to Asia.
And that dependence could be set to increase as fast-growing China starts to lead the world out of recession.
"With most of the world's economies clearly still contracting, and demand for petroleum products falling as a result, China may stand out as an early area of strength as its massive stimulus spending helps to revive demand," said Greg Priddy, energy analyst at the Eurasia Group.
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