A Warren Buffet company engaged in international oil trading is shutting down, Reuters has reported, noting that from now on, Pilot Co will focus on fuel retail.
Citing several unnamed sources the report said Pilot Co had let almost all of its employees go and refocus on its original business in the United States. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway acquired Pilot Co. back in 2017 and it ventured into the world of international oil trading after that.
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Initially, Berkshire Hathaway bought a 39% stake in Pilot Co. In the years that followed, it raised this stake to 80% as of 2023 and last year it bought the remaining 20% of the company. According to Reuters reports from 2023, it was then that Pilot Co. began to shrink its oil trading business, letting 15 employees go, including a vice president.
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“Our core capabilities are focused on delivering reliable fuel supply to our travel centers and customers across North America,” the president of the company, Gary Hoogeveen, told Reuters in a statement.
Berkshire Hathaway is a big player in both conventional energy and transition tech, with Warren Buffet notoriously saying about ten years ago that the only reason to invest in wind power is tax incentives.
Meanwhile, the company continues to boost its stake in Occidental Petroleum, sparking speculation that it was preparing to take it over. “There’s speculation about us buying control, we’re not going to buy control,” Buffett said last year in response to the rumors. “We wouldn’t know what to do with it.”
So far, a takeover has not been announced but last month Buffett’s investment vehicle again bought stock in Oxy. Taking advantage of a dip in energy stocks, Buffett bought another 8.9 million shares in Oxy in December, which brought his total holding in the company to over 28%.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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