NEW YORK, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices climbed on Thursday as key oil exporter Saudi Arabia vowed to end a global supply glut.

Oil prices erased earlier losses as Saudi comments offset a surprise build of U.S. oil inventories.

Saudi energy minister said earlier this week that its focus remained on reducing oil stocks to their five-year average and raised the prospect of prolonged output restraint once an OPEC-led supply-cutting pact ends, according to Reuters.

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that crude inventories rose by 856,000 barrels in the week to Oct. 20, way higher than market expectation a decrease of 2.5 million barrels.

Offsetting that increase, the EIA data showed inventories of gasoline and distillate fuel both fell by more than 5 million barrels last week.

The West Texas Intermediate for December Delivery added 0.46 dollar to settle at 52.64 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery gained 0.86 dollar to close at 59.30 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.