Warren Buffett’s renowned investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, has recently purchased shares in Occidental Petroleum. This move coincided with the oil producer’s announcement of a noteworthy $12 billion deal. The acquisition was made public through a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released on Wednesday night.
According to the filing, Berkshire Hathaway procured shares in Occidental Petroleum on December 11th. This date aligned perfectly with Occidental’s own announcement of its acquisition of CrownRock, an established Midland oil and gas producer. CrownRock is expected to generate an impressive output of 170,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the following year.
The filing also reveals that Berkshire Hathaway increased its investment over the course of the next two days. This came as a surprise since the company had not purchased any stock in Occidental during the previous month. Speculations about potential discussions between Occidental and CrownRock had been circulating in the media prior to this development.
As it stands, Berkshire Hathaway now holds a substantial 238 million shares in Occidental, representing slightly over a quarter of the company’s total shares.
Although shares of Occidental Petroleum have experienced a 9% decline throughout this year, Berkshire Hathaway’s B class has seen a noteworthy gain of 17%.