Why are India, other countries releasing oil from strategic reserves?

India’s move to release 5 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserves as part of a coordinated challenge led by the US against the OPEC+ producers’ cartel’s move to curb output, is the first time that New Delhi would be dipping into its reserves to leverage it as a geopolitical tool.
The oil will be released “in parallel and in consultation with” the US, China, Japan and South Korea, the Oil Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, without specifying a timeframe. The UK has announced that it will release 1.5 million barrels of crude; the US is set to release 50 million barrels.