NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Oil industry executives believe there won't be enough extra supply to significantly reduce prices in the short term, according to a published report.

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The Wall Street Journal reported that the long lead time needed to develop new supplies, coupled with strong global demand for oil, is likely to keep oil prices at or near highs for some time.

Oil prices hit the $50-a-barrel mark for the first time last week, and closed above $50 for the first time Friday, although prices retreated below that benchmark level in early Monday trading.

Still, the Journal reported that many industry executives meeting in Venice over the weekend, stressed that they can do little to pump up output or drive down prices in the short term. It reported that while some members of oil cartel OPEC are raising their capacity, even in Saudi Arabia, which has the easiest reserves to develop, it takes as much as two years to bring new fields to production.

The paper said that any cooling in China's recent rapid economic growth and increased stability of supply out of war-torn Iraq could ease oil prices somewhat.

But the paper said that analysts believe the world market needs to add some six million barrels a day of new capacity every year just to replace production at depleting fields as well as fuel world economic growth.