Oil prices have fallen under the influence of the conduct of certain countries on the global energy market, and one should not search for any “anti-Russian conspiracies” in this context,

the Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak has said on February 10, 2016.

“The situation has negative implications for Russia, as well as for other countries. I’d rather not explain the entire situation with a conspiracy against our country,” Kislyak said in an interview with Interfax, commenting on the opinion of certain analysts that the United States conspired with Saudi Arabia to “dump” oil prices in order to harm Russia.

“I think everything is much simpler than that. The current situation on the oil market resulted from the fact that a whole range of countries pursue their own interests and try to grab a bigger cut,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iran is ready for any talks to resolve the situation in the oil market, the country’s Acting Deputy Petroleum Minister Masoud Hashemian Esfahani said at a conference on post-sanctions Iran organized by the Vedomosti newspaper in Moscow.

“Iran is prepared for talks with Russia and Saudi Arabia to find a solution to establish a good price for oil, both for consumers and producers,” he said.

The Russian Ambassador also said that Iran still intended to regain its share of the market.

“Maybe Saudi Arabia will resume talks with Iran, and together we’ll take some sort of action to create a stronger market,” he said, commenting on an upcoming OPEC meeting.

Oil prices need to be high for investment purposes, and the most comfortable level for investments in the near future would be more than USD50 to USD60 per barrel, he said.

Esfahani said that oil production in Iran would be profitable even at USD8 a barrel. He said that lifting costs were USD3 to USD5 per barrel onshore and around USD7 offshore.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is forecasting the reduction of oil production by Russia from 10.8 million barrels a day in 2015 to 10.74 million barrels a day, the cartel said in its monthly review.

In general, for C.I.S. countries, OPEC is expecting a fall in oil production this year of 1.16 million barrels a day to 13.48 million barrels a day. The main reduction will occur due to lower rates of production in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.