Saudi Arabia increased its oil production to a record level last month in an attempt to win back more customers and meet demand for its crude.

Output in May reached 10.33 million barrels a day, according to numbers submitted by Riyadh to Opec, the oil cartel.

This confirmed the widely held view that Saudi Arabia’s production is heading higher.

The kingdom’s oil output had been 10.31 million barrels a day in April, Riyadh told Opec.

In its monthly oil market report, Opec said world oil demand would stand at 92.5 million barrels a day this year, up from 91.3 million barrels a day in 2014, unchanged from the previous month’s report.

“The global economy recovery appears to have stabilised at a moderate level,” said the cartel yesterday.

It expects non-Opec supply to decline in the second half of the year, compared with an increase in the first six months.

A forecast of slower annual growth of 680,000 barrels per day was in line with previous predictions.

“The current oversupply in the market is likely to ease in the coming quarters,” the group said.

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015