Warren Buffett ‘s Berkshire Hathaway snapped up more shares of Occidental Petroleum , taking advantage of sliding oil prices amid the spreading banking crisis. The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate bought 7.9 million shares in multiple trades on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, a new regulatory filing showed. The average price for the purchases was $59.17, totaling $466.7 million. That brought Berkshire’s total number of shares in Occidental to 208 million shares, 23.1% of the oil giant’s outstanding shares. The energy stock is down about 5% this week as oil prices took a hit with fears of slowing global economic growth. West Texas Intermediate futures fell more than 5% to settle at $67.61 per barrel Wednesday, reaching its lowest level since December 2021. WTI continued to slide Thursday, falling to $66.44 a barrel. Berkshire has added to its already-large Occidental stake twice this month alone. The “Oracle of Omaha” had purchased 5.8 million shares for $352.5 million on March 3, March 4, and March 7. Earlier this month, Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub told CNBC that she met with Buffett to discuss the oil and gas industry and the technology involved in it. In August, Berkshire received regulatory approval to purchase up to a 50% stake, spurring speculation it may eventually buy all of Houston-based Occidental. Berkshire also owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock, and has warrants to buy another 83.9 million common shares for $5 billion, or $59.62 each. The warrants were obtained as part of the company’s 2019 deal that helped finance Occidental’s purchase of Anadarko . Occidental shares opened slightly lower on Thursday. — CNBC’s Alex Crippen contributed reporting.
