© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk waves during a joint news conference with T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert (not pictured) at the SpaceX Starbase, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., August 25, 2022. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

STAVANGER, Norway (Reuters) – The world must continue to extract oil and gas in order to sustain civilisation, while continuing to also develop sustainable sources of energy, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) founder Elon Musk told reporters at a conference in Norway on Monday.

“Realistically I think we need to use oil and gas in the short-term, because otherwise civilisation will crumble,” Musk said.

Asked if Norway should continue to drill for oil and gas, Musk said: “I think some additional exploration is warranted at this time.

“One of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced is the transition to sustainable energy and to a sustainable economy … that will take some decades to complete.”