The U.S. led the push Thursday to release 60 million barrels of crude reserves from stockpiles, replacing some of the losses that resulted when Libya went offline.

The move had an immediate impact on oil prices, as benchmark crude in the U.S. dropped $5 a barrel to $90. And in the futures markets, gasoline fell 14 cents a gallon.

So does that translate into cheaper gas? Unfortunately, that's a little iffy.

Gas prices have already been tumbling, and no one's sure how much more they can drop. Today's nationwide average for a gallon of regular is $3.61, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. That's down from $3.69 a week ago and $3.83 a month ago.

One analyst discusses the news and what that means for oil prices and Libya in the following video.

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Gas prices had been pushed up by oil speculators who continued to place bets that the price of crude would rise. But unleashing 60 million barrels has struck at speculators' hearts. "The speculators will have to change their positions," an oil analyst told MSNBC.com. "Instead of betting on higher prices they have to bet on lower prices."

Lower oil prices should mean lower fuel prices -- which is exactly what the U.S. economy needs. Suddenly, money that was forced to go to gas budgets gets freed up. Consumers can spend more in other areas. Companies see transportation costs fall, giving them more money to hire.

But 60 million barrels isn't really that much. The entire world uses about 89 million barrels a day, The New York Times reports.

But the message to speculators is loud and clear. There are plenty of barrels of oil in reserve -- the U.S. alone has 727 million -- and betting on an uptick in oil prices is risky. The U.S. is providing about half of the 60 million barrels to be released from reserves, and the rest will come from other countries in the International Energy Agency.

At least for now, the speculators seem to be running for cover. The price of crude oil fell below its 200-day moving average of $92.58 a barrel -- the first time the price has fallen through that mark in nine months, the Times reports.

Politics is certainly at play here, of course. The Obama administration would love to see the economy improve before the next presidential election. But one source told the Times there were other factors at work as well, including the expected bump in demand from summer vacationers and frustration at OPEC, which failed to agree to increase oil production.