Buffett Boosts Occidental Oil Bet Despite $2 Billion Paper Loss

(Bloomberg) -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. purchased Occidental Petroleum Corp. shares for the first time in six months, adding to a bet that has billionaire investor Warren Buffett nursing a rare loss since first buying common stock two years ago. 

Berkshire bought $409 million of stock in the Houston-based oil producer in recent days as the shares declined below his previous lowest purchase price following a drop in crude. Occidental rose as much as 5.8% in New York Friday, the most intraday since April 2023 and paring its loss this year to 20%. 

Berkshire, which now owns about 28% of the company, was sitting on an unrealized loss of $2.2 billion in its common stock holdings before its most recent purchases, according to calculations based on data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Even after today’s gain, Occidental is the fifth-worst performing member of the S&P 500 Energy Index this year as investors fret about its debt levels ahead of an anticipated period of low oil prices. Still, Buffett’s investment is a show of confidence in Chief Executive Officer Vicki Hollub, who took on debt to help fund the $10.8 billion purchase of private Permian Basin producer CrownRock LP earlier this year. 

Buffett’s purchase is “a surprise to the market,” Leo Mariani, an analyst at Roth Capital Partners, said in an interview. “The consensus was he had scaled up to where he needed to be and was content to hold. But clearly he thinks the shares have been oversold.”

Berkshire’s paper loss on Occidental common stock does not include its $10 billion purchase of preferred stock made in 2019 when Occidental needed a cash-injection to buy crosstown rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp. The preferred stock requires Occidental to pay 8% dividends each year, amounting to $800 million annually in its early days, making it a highly-profitable investment for Berkshire. 

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