Top Opec exporter Saudi Arabia intends to boost oil output towards 10 million barrels per day (bpd) in May to help build stocks before an expected end-year demand surge, industry sources say.

Saudi Aramco, holding most of the world's unused production capacity, is due to supply global oil majors and top Asian refiners with about 500,000 bpd of extra crude in May, putting Riyadh close to the 10 million mark, they said.
"We think the Saudis will be pumping an extra 500,000 bpd or more in May," said a senior Western oil executive.
May could mark the first time since 1980 that the kingdom, the world's biggest oil exporter, has sustained crude production near 10 million, according to industry analysts.
"We're getting a lot more oil in May," said a source at a major Saudi customer. "They certainly seem to be pumping as much as they can."
He, and other customers, said they had not requested extra Saudi barrels but that Aramco had restored contract volume reduced under previous Opec cutbacks.
Saudi Arabia, and its fellow Gulf Opec members, want to hoist volume to let global consumers build inventories and avoid a potential supply crunch and price spike in the fourth quarter.
Opec foresees demand for the cartel's crude rising to 30.3 million bpd in the last three months of the year, versus 28.5 million in the third quarter.
Opec's president and Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahd Al Sabah said the 11-member producer group is on course to lift supplies in May by 500,000 bpd, with Saudi Arabia providing the bulk of the fresh barrels.
Opec raised output limits by 500,000 bpd in March to 27.5 million bpd and left room for a second, 500,000-bpd rise before a June meeting if prices failed to drop below $55.
Non-Gulf cartel members Algeria and Nigeria are opposed to enforcing the second output increase now, arguing that world markets are already adequately supplied.
But Gulf producers, who hold Opec's spare production capacity, are convinced of consumers' need to build stocks. And Saudi customers' higher crude oil allocations for May are the clearest sign yet the kingdom, which pumps over 11 per cent of global oil supplies, is not waiting for Opec's full backing to take action.
"This may cause ample supply in the market for the short term, but I think it's a healthy way for Opec to increase their production before oil demand peaks in the fourth quarter," said a source at a South Korean refiner.
Though Kuwait says it will pump 2.65 million bpd in April and May, Saudi Arabia still has considerable output flexibility. Pumping at 10 million in May would leave the kingdom with one million of excess capacity.
In May, Asian buyers will get full contract volumes for the first time since December, after which the kingdom cut supplies to the region by 10 per cent. For some oil majors, it will be the first time they receive full supplies in two years.
US and European refiners were given steady supplies versus April at 20-30 per cent below contracts, sources said.