The positions, disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings, showed that Buffett's conglomerate opened a new stake of 26.5 million shares of the pipeline company over the quarter, while Cooperman's $5.4 billion hedge fund sold its entire stake of more than 713,000 shares.

While Cooperman's bearish move on Kinder Morgan appeared prescient since the company's shares fell 46.1 percent over the quarter and have only regained 4.7 percent so far this year, Buffett was not alone in his bet.

David Tepper's Appaloosa Management hedge fund was one of the quarter's biggest energy bulls and snapped up 9.4 million shares of Kinder Morgan. Soros Fund Management, which invests money for philanthropist and former hedge fund manager George Soros, took a small stake of 50,700 shares.

Tepper's Appaloosa also bought shares of oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. (>> Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation), Range Resources Corp. (>> Range Resources Corp.), Southwestern Energy Co. (>> Southwestern Energy Company) and Antero Resources Corp. (>> Antero Resources Corp). Soros, meanwhile, appeared bearish overall and exited stakes in companies such as Noble Energy Inc (>> Noble Energy, Inc.), Western Refining (>> Western Refining, Inc.), and Delek U.S. Holdings (>> Delek US Holdings, Inc.).

Soros maintained a 500,000 share stake in Energy XXI Ltd (>> Energy XXI Ltd) over the quarter, which said on Tuesday it would miss an interest payment and retained restructuring advisors.

In addition to Kinder Morgan, Omega slashed stakes in oil and gas E&P companies Anadarko Petroleum Corp (>> Anadarko Petroleum Corporation) and Gulfport Energy Corp (>> Gulfport Energy Corporation), as well as natural gas pipeline company Targa Resources Corp. (>> Targa Resources Corp).

Oil prices have fallen by more than 70 percent in the past 20 months, driven lower by near-record production both from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers, such as Russia. Benchmark Brent crude plunged 23 percent in the fourth quarter alone, while U.S. crude tumbled 18 percent.

Most energy shares have plummeted in tandem with the oil price drop. The hedge-fund SEC disclosures are backward-looking and come out 45 days after the end of each quarter. Still, the filings offer a glimpse into how hedge fund managers played the crude supply glut.

A batch of other closely-watched investors also diverged in their approaches to the embattled oil and gas sector.

Barry Rosenstein's Jana Partners was bullish, opening a new stake of 3.8 million shares in natural gas company Williams Companies Inc. (>> Williams Companies Inc), a stake of about 813,000 shares in Targa Resources, and a stake of more than 299,000 shares and one of about 247,000 shares in E&P companies Oasis Petroleum Inc (>> Oasis Petroleum Inc.) and Whiting Petroleum Corp. (>> Whiting Petroleum Corp), respectively.

All of those shares plunged over the quarter, with Targa falling the most and losing nearly half its value at 47.5 percent.

Another bull was billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn, who increased his stake in Freeport McMoRan (>> Freeport-McMoRan Inc) by 4 million shares to 104 million class B shares over the quarter and increased his stake in beaten-down liquefied natural gas company Cheniere Energy (>> Cheniere Energy, Inc.) by nearly 31,000 shares compared to a filing in early December.

Cheniere's shares fell about 23 percent over the quarter.

Paulson & Co., a hedge fund run by John Paulson, appeared less optimistic and cut its stakes in Whiting Petroleum and Oasis Petrolum by 6.4 million shares and 2.9 million shares, respectively.

(Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Andrew Hay)

By Sam Forgione