By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures were steady in Asian trading Thursday as investors balanced positive economic growth in Japan with fresh worries over euro-zone debt problems, while U.S. data showed stockpiles rose further to a 22-year high. U.S. benchmark crude prices rose for the first time in five days and climbed back above $93 a barrel Thursday. West Texas Intermediate crude has shed more than $13 a barrel in the past two weeks due to rising inventories, higher output and fears that a worsening of the European debt crisis may dent demand. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at $93.42 a barrel at 0638 GMT, up $0.61 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.19 to $109.56 a barrel. The slight rebound in WTI crude came as Asian stocks traded higher following faster-than-expected economic growth in Japan and Singapore between January and March. But fears of a worsening of the European debt crisis continued to linger as the European Central Bank said it had stopped providing liquidity to some Greek banks. "We still see potential for downside risk in the stock market that could still spill further into the oil space," said Jim Ritterbusch of Ritterbusch and Associates, pointing to U.S. employment data due later Thursday. Prices have come under pressure lately as crude-oil inventories in the U.S.--the world's largest oil consumer--have gained more than 10% over the past eight weeks and are at their highest level since August 1990. Data from the Department of Energy showed that U.S. stockpiles rose another 2.1 million barrels in the past week. The rise exceeded market expectations of 1.4 million barrels but was well below the 6.6 million barrels that industry group API had forecast. Prices could face additional pressure if the Group of Eight economies agree on releasing strategic oil reserves in view of the European Union's ban on crude oil imports from Iran beginning in July. The Kyodo News agency reported that the U.S. government wants the other G-8 economies to prepare to release strategic oil reserves. The appeal, which will be made during a two-day summit at Camp David, Maryland beginning Friday, is aimed at stabilizing oil prices and showing solidarity in dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue, Kyodo said. The Obama administration, which later downplayed the report, had released 30 million barrels from the strategic reserves in 2011 as part of a coordinated effort with the International Energy Agency to offset production losses following the civil war in Libya. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for June--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 61 points to $2.9148 a gallon, while June heating oil traded at $2.8935, 41 points lower. ICE gasoil for June changed hands at $925.25 a metric ton, down $6.25 from Wednesday's settlement. -By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Dow Jones Newswires; +65-6415 4065; jacob.pedersen@dowjones.com

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