MOSCOW, October 3 (RIA Novosti) - The consumption of natural gas in the Russian domestic market has dropped some 6 billion cubic meters this year, a spokesman for Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom said Wednesday.

"Gazprom has registered a 6 or 6.5 billion cubic meters decrease in consumption of natural gas in the domestic market in 2007," he said, adding that the decline was due to lower gas demand in the unusually warm winter and hot summer.

The overall output of natural gas in Russia in 2007 may be cut to 551 billion cubic meters, he added.

This would become the second revision of gas output this year from the initially planned 561 billion cubic meters.