With nearly $146.7 billion in record free cash reserves, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKb) has been buying up shares of integrated oil and gas giant Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) in 2022, spending more than $500 million in the last week alone to acquire another 9.6 million shares of the oil company and bringing its total stake to 152.7 million shares worth about $8.5 billion, Yahoo writes.

Berkshire made the decision to make the new purchase of OXY shares after the company’s earnings report in late February, as Buffett was pleased with its results.

“I read every word and said to myself, this is exactly what I would have done myself. She’s running the company the right way,” the billionaire investor said, referring to Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, Occidental’s revenue was $8.01 billion, up 139% year-over-year. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.48, a marked improvement from an adjusted loss of 65 cents per share in the same period last year.

Holub highlighted Occidental’s strong operating results, improved balance sheet and new shareholder returns, with the company’s board of directors declaring a regular quarterly dividend of 13 cents per share on OXY common stock on Feb. 24, a 1,200% increase over the previous quarter’s dividend of just 1 cent per share. The company also announced a $3 billion share repurchase program. Another 3 months later, things continued to improve, with OXY reporting first quarter revenue of $8.53 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.12 per share.

This isn’t the first time Buffett has invested in Occidental: in 2019, Berkshire spent $10 billion to buy preferred shares of Occidental to help that company acquire Anadarko Petroleum. Occidental pays an 8% annual dividend on these preferred shares, providing Berkshire with $200 million in revenue per quarter.

With the energy sector up more than 20% YTD compared to the S&P’s 20% decline over the same time period, Occidental has climbed higher than most of its peers. The company has already delivered earnings growth of 80% in 2022.

The stock is now trading at around $56 apiece.