HOUSTON — Warren E. Buffett hasn’t shown much interest in oil stocks in recent years, but that changed on Tuesday when his company, Berkshire Hathaway, committed $10 billion to help Occidental Petroleum compete in a bidding war for Anadarko Petroleum. At stake is a commanding position in the Permian Basin, the world’s most productive oil field, which straddles Texas and New Mexico. Only a couple of weeks ago, Chevron’s proposed $33 billion acquisition of Anadarko looked like a done deal. But on Monday, Anadarko’s board said it was considering Occidental’s bid, which is roughly 20 percent higher than Chevron’s. Should Occidental acquire Anadarko, Berkshire would invest $10 billion in new preferred shares that have an 8 percent annual dividend.

Source: New York Times April 30, 2019 13:58 UTC