(Reuters) -Berkshire Hathaway is in talks to buy Occidental Petroleum's ( OXY ) 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 sectors such as 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.

Occidental, in which Berkshire is already the largest shareholder, 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 stood at $23.34 billion at the end of June.

The OxyChem unit generated $2.42 billion in revenue in the first two quarters of 2025.