India’s decision to release 5 million barrels of crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) is the culmination of its efforts to forge an alliance with some of the largest consuming countries to counter production cuts by producing nations.

       Experts, however, said this could bring in a benefit of only $2 a barrel in the price of crude oil in the short term, with no gains in the long term since the stocks released in the US are in the nature of loans that have to be replenished next year. Besides, the release can lead to a pushback from producing ...