) scooped up another 18.1 million shares of Occidental for close to $1 billion this week. The latest purchases come hot on the heels of Berkshire spending $6 billion or so in the prior two weeks to buy up Occidental shares.Energy expert and portfolio manager Rob Thummel of Tortoise Capital says there is more behind Buffett's buying binge than a play on elevated oil prices.
"Occidental is benefiting from the higher oil prices. The other factor a lot of energy companies are doing that is changing the game for energy companies and how investors perceive them, is that Occidental has actually embraced the energy transition and participating in it,". "You'll hear them talk a lot of about carbon capture.
Shares have skyrocketed 43% in the past month compared to the relatively unchanged S&P 500, per Yahoo Finance Plus data. During that same span, shares of oil majors ExxonMobil and Chevron are up 1% and 19%, respectively. Occidental will hold a key investor day on March 22. To be sure, Buffett will likely be listening very closely.