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After reading this WSJ article today about the Permean basin, I'm curious about what WEB sees as the long term prospects for Oxy (and Chevron for that matter)?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-shale-boom-shows-signs-of-peaking-as-big-oil-wells-disappear-2adef03f?st=1cp6as5p2wqcuyp&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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Thanks for the detailed update! We a happy to see BRK's continued conviction in oil.

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Mar 8, 2023Liked by The Rational Walk

Thanks for that.

It is maybe worth pointing out that, if the warrants are exercised, Berkshire would then own 200.153 million shares plus the $5b worth of shares purchased at $59.62, meaning 50000/59.62= 83.864 million more, out of 900.072m (current shares) + 83.864m (issued to Berkshire), i.e. 983.936m shares after issuing the new shares to satisfy the warrants, and that would be 284.017m shares, i.e. 284.017/983.936 = 28.9% of Occidental's shares.

In addition, last summer (when it had just over 20% of Occidental's shares), Berkshire obtained FERC permission to increase its stake as high as 50%: https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-regulator-says-berkshire-hathaway-can-buy-up-50-occidental-stock-2022-08-19/#:~:text=Occidental's%20share%20price%20soared%209.9,consistent%20with%20the%20public%20interest.%22. As far as I am aware, Berkshire has not entered into any agreement with Occidental to refrain from buying shares, although convention would have it that Berkshire would make an offer to take Occidental private before acquiring a controlling stake. Interestingly, Berkshire purchased BNSF after it had acquired a 22.6% stake, very close to Berkshire's current stake in Occidental, and much smaller, if one considers the warrants...

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