Pimco's Gross expects oil prices near $60 in 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices are likely to hold near $60 a barrel next year as OPEC trims supplies from the market, bond fund manager Bill Gross of PIMCO said on Monday.

"I have a proclivity to think that OPEC pumped out a lot of oil a month or two months ago in front of the election, and now there is sort of an all-clear sign and they have the ability to pull some of that back," Gross told reporters at the Reuters Investment Summit.

"That becomes supportive in terms of the $60 a barrel price," he said, adding that there was a mild upward price bias.

OPEC agreed to cut oil production starting November 1 to help stem a price slide that took U.S. crude from over $78 a barrel in mid-July to around $61 now.

U.S. oil prices are expected to average $67 a barrel this year, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.

OPEC is set to consider further cuts this week at a meeting in Nigeria. with some members concerned that bulging inventories in consuming nations could eventually weaken prices.

U.S. oil prices surged to record highs this year as global capacity strained to keep up with demand. Gross said economic growth would continue to underpin oil prices.

"A 4 percent growth assumption for the world economy in general speaks to increasing demand for oil and petrochemical products," he said.