Elon Musk says Tesla needs to immediately increase oil and gas output

Elon Musk took an unusual stance for an electric-vehicle executive on Friday.

Tesla Inc. chief executive, TSLA, said the U.S. needs to immediately increase production of oil and gas in a tweet late Friday, which is against the grain of the EV maker's own green-energy business initiatives.

Musk said Friday, "We need to increase oil gas output immediately, but we need to increase output immediately," he said. Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures, he said.

The biggest weekly dollar gain on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data, came as the U.S. benchmark crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled at the highest values since 2008, making it the biggest weekly gain on record.

April West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLJ 22, CL. It was the highest finish since September 2008, and 1, increased 7.4%, to settle at $115.68 a barrel. For the week, prices based on the front-month contract rose $24.09, or 26.3%, the biggest dollar gain found in data going back to April 1983.

Higher crude prices eventually lead to higher gasoline prices for average Americans.

In April, natural gas NG 00 rose by 6.2% to $5.016 per million British thermal units and booked a 12.2% weekly gain.

The surge in commodities such as crude and natural gas comes after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. Russia is a major producer of crude and natural gas, and sanctions have beenimposed on the Kremlin in response to its unprovoked attack on Kyiv, which has rippled through global markets.

The run up in oil prices would likely help Tesla in the long run, as the cost of gasoline rises, which could potentially encourage consumers to switch to electric vehicles. The Russian invasion has drawn widespread criticism from the international community, with many imposing a de facto embargo on Russian crude.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, and the S&P 500 index SPX, both closed lower for the week, as Tesla shares fell 0.1% Friday, but they were one of the few companies to end sharply higher on the week, up 3.5%, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, and the S&P 500 index SPX closed lower for the week.

The U.S. and more than two dozen major oil-consuming nations said earlier this week that they would release 60 million barrels of crude from emergency stockpiles to combat the surge in crude prices caused by the Ukraine crisis.

Russia's oil production was about 10.04 million barrels a day in January of 2022 and global oil demand is estimated at 100 million barrels a day.

Concerns about the high price of crude came amid concerns about out-of-control inflation that was already dogging global economies in the aftermath of the COVID epidemic, amid supply-chain bottlenecks and labor shortages.

Some congressional GOP lawmakers have suggested drilling more traditional energy sources, such as oil and natural gas, on U.S. land and water is the key to energy independence and geopolitical security, especially while the Russian crisis continues.

In a letter to President Biden sent Wednesday, every Republican member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, led by Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, urged the administration to rethink U.S. energy policy.