Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Russia and the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan may cut oil supply next year to bolster their economies as a global recession reduces demand for crude.

Russia may slash exports by 320,000 barrels a day if oil stays at current prices, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told reporters in Oran, Algeria, today, where OPEC is holding a meeting. Kazakhstan may also pump less crude, Sechin said. Azerbaijan is willing to cut as much as 300,000 barrels a day, Oil Minister Natig Aliyev said.

Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, which aren’t members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, plan to coordinate production cuts with any reduction agreed on by OPEC today. The producer group, which supplies more than 40 percent of the world’s oil, may lower quotas by a record 2 million barrels a day from next year, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said.

Russian oil exports already dropped by 350,000 barrels a day in November, Sechin said. Output fell by about 40,000 barrels a day last month, Energy Ministry data show.

The country’s economy, built on energy and commodities, is slowing faster than other emerging markets such as China and India. Russia has drained 27 percent of foreign reserves, the world’s third-largest, as it seeks to stem a 15 percent decline in the ruble against the dollar since August. Urals crude, the nation’s export blend, has plummeted as much as 73 percent since reaching $142.50 a barrel on July 3.

BP Output

BP Plc, the biggest foreign oil producer operating in Azerbaijan, was unable to say how output may be affected.

“We need to wait to talk to the minister when he gets back” from the OPEC meeting to review production plans, Toby Odone, a London-based company spokesman, said today in an e- mailed note.

The total global reduction in oil output, including cuts from non-OPEC producers, may be as large as 2.6 million barrels a day, or 3 percent of world crude demand.

A reduction by Russia would represent a change of policy for the Kremlin, which earlier sought to reverse declining output with tax breaks for producers. Production fell for an 11th straight month in November by 0.3 percent from a year earlier to 9.82 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Ministry.

Sechin also said producers should discuss whether oil needs to be priced using a “basket of currencies” to help stabilize the market. Currently, oil is traded worldwide in U.S. dollars.

Crude oil for January delivery fell as much as $1, or 2.3 percent, to $42.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange today. The contract traded at $43.21 as of 12:37 p.m. London time.

Russia was among non-OPEC producers that helped OPEC reduce supply a decade ago, when oil was sinking toward $10 a barrel. Norway and Mexico lowered output in 1998 and 1999 during those efforts, while Russia said it would trim exports.

Russia would be keen to host an oil producers’ meeting in Moscow at some time in the future, Sechin said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Maher Chmaytelli in Oran, Algeria at mchmaytelli@bloomberg.net; Fred Pals in Oran, Algeria at fpals@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 17, 2008 07:55 EST