MOSCOW, January 23. / TASS / The price of in 2015 may recover up to $60-$70 per barrel, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak in an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta on Friday.

"If it will be in the $60-70 range, that would be good, and I think it could grow to that level," he said.

However, the minister thinks that the drastic drop in oil prices has nothing to do with the economic "war against Russia."

"The drop in prices is a result of several factors; First of all, it is of course, it is the overproduction of oil that has upset the balance. And the disbalance did not happen now, it happened three years ago, when the price of oil soared to $110 per barrel," Novak said. He explained that the three years of the overproduction offset was compensated by the reduced production in Iraq and Libya.

"And this year, Libya, Iraq and Iran have increased production by 1.2 million barrels per day. And that additional supply was not compensated by anything. Also the Americans have been adding to their volume of shale oil production over the last 3-4 years, which is nearly 1 million barrels per year that we did not have before" Novak said.