(Adds cause of the decrease in production in paragraph 3)
MOSCOW, May 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russian gas giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] said Wednesday it would produce 557 billion cu m of natural gas in 2007, 3 billion cu m below the planned volume.
Gazprom's output will be 1 bln cu m higher than the 2006 level, the company's press service said.
Vagit Alekperov, the head of Russia's largest private oil LUKoil [RTS: LKOH], said other Russian gas producers would cut down production by 8% until the end of September due to unprecedented hot weather in the country.
