Buffett’s Oil Gambit: A Dividend Hunter’s Descent

The Old Man. Buffett. Still lurking in the shadows, even after supposedly handing over the reins. They tell you he’s retired. A LIE. He’s always watching, always calculating, a silent predator sizing up the next payout. And what’s he been fixated on? OIL. Sweet, black, glorious oil. Fifty-eight BILLION dollars plowed into the abyss, they say. A gamble. A calculated, cynical, beautiful gamble. And now, after years of simmering in the muck, it’s starting to… work. This isn’t some quaint investment strategy; it’s a full-blown, high-stakes descent into the heart of the hydrocarbon beast.

The Dip, The Madness, and the Crude

Berkshire Hathaway. The name itself sounds like a conspiracy. They didn’t just buy oil, they inhaled it. Chevron, Occidental… names that used to evoke gas stations and road trips now whisper of fortunes and leverage. Twenty-one billion here, twelve billion there… it’s enough to make a sane man question reality. And then the acquisitions. Dominion Energy’s assets? Snapped up like candy. Cove Point? Another piece of the puzzle. It’s a land grab, a frantic scramble for the black gold before the world supposedly turns green. They’re building a fortress, a dividend-spewing monolith fueled by the planet’s dwindling reserves. And the cash? Oh, the cash pile. They weren’t buying growth stocks; they were hoarding ammunition.

Berkshire built its position in Chevron (CVX +3.33%) to nearly $21 billion, as of this writing. It’s the fifth-largest position in Berkshire’s equities portfolio, representing a roughly 6% stake in the company.
Berkshire built its position in Occidental Petroleum (OXY 0.07%) to nearly $12 billion, as of this writing. It’s the sixth-largest position in Berkshire’s equities portfolio, representing a roughly 27% stake in the company.
In 2020, Berkshire Hathaway acquired the natural gas and storage assets of Dominion Energy in a deal that totaled nearly $10 billion when you factor in the assumption of debt.
In July 2023, Berkshire Hathaway Energy spent $3.3 billion to buy a 50% stake in the Cove Point liquefied natural gas facility that was owned by Dominion Energy.
In October 2024, Berkshire Hathaway paid nearly $2.4 billion to acquire the remaining 8% of Berkshire Hathaway Energy it didn’t already own.
In 2025, Berkshire acquired Occidental Petroleum’s petrochemical division, OxyChem, for about $9.7 billion in cash. The unit manufactures water treatment, healthcare, and other commercial chemicals.

The Long Game: A World Addicted to Juice

Forget the renewables hype. Forget the virtue signaling. Buffett sees something the rest of us are too blinded by ideology to grasp. This isn’t about believing in oil; it’s about understanding addiction. The world needs energy. It craves it. And until some miraculous, scalable alternative materializes – and let’s be honest, that’s a long way off – oil will remain king. Geopolitics? A convenient excuse for price spikes. Winter storms? Just another reason to justify the madness. Trump’s removal of Maduro? A chaotic sideshow distracting from the real power plays. It’s all a smokescreen. The demand is relentless, and Berkshire Hathaway is positioned to collect the spoils. This is a cynical, beautiful, and terrifying realization.

The EIA report? Another piece of the puzzle. Liquid fuels through 2050? They’re practically begging us to keep drilling. Uncertainty about demand? A carefully crafted euphemism for “we have no idea how much we’ll need.” New technologies? A desperate attempt to justify the unsustainable. And the weak dollar? The perfect storm. A collapsing currency demands hard assets. Oil. Real, tangible, black gold. Berkshire Hathaway isn’t just investing in a commodity; they’re investing in chaos.

2050 isn’t that far away. And while the planet may be burning, the dividend checks will keep coming. It’s a morbid calculation, a cold-blooded assessment of human greed. But that’s Buffett for you. A master of the game. A predator in a pinstripe suit. And right now, he’s smelling blood in the oil patch. And I, for one, am ready to collect.

2026-02-01 14:33

The Dip, The Madness, and the Crude

The Long Game: A World Addicted to Juice

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