August 8 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought more shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp, surpassing the 20% stake where it could record some of the oil company's earnings with its own and potentially add billions of dollars of profit.
In a regulatory filing on Monday night, Berkshire said it paid about $391 million for nearly 6.7 million Occidental shares between Aug. 4 and Aug. 8.
The purchases gave Berkshire 188.4 million Occidental shares, or 20.2% of reported shares outstanding, worth $11.3 billion.
A 20% stake would let Berkshire report its proportionate share of Houston-based Occidental's earnings with operating results, through the so-called equity method of accounting.
Berkshire nonetheless could contend that its accounting for Occidental should remain unchanged because its stake is passive.
Analysts on average expect Occidental to generate $10.5 billion of profit this year, according to Refinitiv I/B/E/S.
Buffett's company also owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock, which helped finance the 2019 purchase of Anadarko Petroleum, and has warrants to buy another 83.9 million common shares for $5 billion.
Some analysts have speculated that Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire could eventually bid for all of Occidental.
Buffett's assistant and Occidental did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside market hours.
Berkshire generated $16.3 billion of operating profit in this year's first half.
It uses the equity method of accounting for food company Kraft Heinz Co, where it has a 26.6% stake, and truck stop operator Pilot Travel Centers, where its 38.6% stake is expected to grow to 80% next year.
In contrast, Berkshire accounts normally for its 20.2% stake in American Express Co, restricting its ability to exercise significant influence.
Occidental shares closed at $60.04 on Monday. The share price has more than doubled this year, benefiting from rising oil prices following Russia - Ukraine war.
Berkshire owns dozens of companies including the BNSF railroad, Geico car insurance and several energy businesses, and stocks including oil company Chevron Corp, where it ended June with a $23.7 billion stake.