oil dropped by more than 5 a barrel in a matter of minutes after a report that the biden administration is considering releasing about 1 million barrels a day from its strategic reserves for several months the overall release could be as much as 180 million barrels according to people familiar with the plan and an official announcement may come later thursday it would be significantly bigger than recent reserves sales by the us and the country may be joined by allies as part of an effort coordinated by the international energy agency