The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sent oil prices soaring to multi-year highs as countries impose sanctions on Russia and banks refuse to do business with that country. Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to call for an immediate increase in oil and gas production in the US and around the world to compensate for the reduced Russian output.
Musk wrote on Twitter, “Hate to say it, but we need to increase oil & gas output immediately. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures.”
Musk also underscored that the adoption and production of sustainable energy can’t be accelerated instantly. “Obviously, this would negatively affect Tesla, but sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil & gas exports,” he added in the twitter thread.
Hate to say it, but we need to increase oil & gas output immediately.
One in every 10 barrels of oil consumed in the world is produced by Russia and it is the third-largest oil producer in the world, according to the New York Times.
Oil prices surged on Friday reaching multi-year highs as oil buyers shunned barrels from Russia, which is the second-largest crude oil exporter in the world. Crude oil prices reached their highest weekly gains since the middle of 2020. The most traded oil futures of the market closed at high levels not seen since 2013 and during the financial crisis of 2008, respectively.
Elon Musk’s tweets come as the Biden administration is contemplating a ban on the imports of Russian crude oil, according to Bloomberg. Earlier, the US administration had said that banning energy imports had no strategic interest for the country. However, now the oil industry leaders of the US have come in support of boosting production and stopping imports from Russia.
Musk’s tweet received almost 20,000 retweets within 30 minutes of being posted. Many industry leaders have come in support of his opinion.
