Berkshire in talks to buy Occidental's OxyChem for about $10 billion, WSJ reports

(Reuters) -Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is in talks to buy Occidental Petroleum's OxyChem petrochemical unit for about $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing people familiar with the matter. The potential sale of the OxyChem unit, which supplies products used in medical care, food security and construction, would add to a series of divestitures the U.S. oil and gas producer has pursued in recent years. The deal could come together within days, the report said. Berkshire, Occidental's largest shareholder, owns about 27% of the outstanding shares in the Houston, Texas-based company. The conglomerate began acquiring its stake in February 2022, around the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Occidental has grappled with a heavy debt load, a legacy of its $55 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum in 2019, when it outbid rival Chevron to secure shale oilfields in Texas. Anadarko's nearly a quarter-million acres in the Permian Basin hold oil and gas deposits that can produce output for decades using low-cost drilling techniques. Occidental's $12 billion acquisition of privately held U.S. shale oil producer CrownRock last year significantly increased the company's debt load, which was $23.34 billion at the end of June. The OxyChem unit generated $2.42 billion in revenue in the first two quarters of 2025. The report said the OxyChem deal would be Buffett's second big bet on chemicals. In 2011, Berkshire acquired specialty chemicals producer Lubrizol for close to $10 billion, including debt. (Reporting by Katha Kalia and Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

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