--(www.USEquityNews.com)-- 07/25/2008 - Oil and Gas Exploration industry alert provided by U.S. Equity News. Atlas Energy Resources, LLC (NYSE: ATN) ("Atlas Energy") announced recently that it has appointed R. Randle Scarborough as an independent member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Scarborough's appointment to the board will increase the number of independent Atlas Energy board members to four, in order to comply with requirements of the New York Stock Exchange. Matthew A. Jones, Chief Financial Officer of Atlas Energy, will step down from his position on the Atlas Energy board and will maintain his board membership on Atlas Pipeline Holdings GP, LLC.
The Hiland companies, Hiland Partners, LP (NASDAQ: HLND) and Hiland Holdings GP, LP recently announced the following quarterly distribution declarations. The Board of Directors of Hiland Partners GP, LLC, the managing general partner of Hiland Partners, LP, recently announced an increase in its cash distribution for the second quarter of 2008. The declared quarterly distributions on the Partnership's common and subordinated units will increase to $0.8625 per unit (an annualized rate of $3.45 per unit) from $0.8275 per unit (an annualized rate of $3.31 per unit). This represents a 4.2% increase over the prior quarter and a 17.7% increase over the distribution for the same quarter of the prior year.
NATCO Group Inc. (NYSE: NTG) announced that it has scheduled its quarterly conference call for Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. Central Time to discuss second quarter 2008 financial results. The results will be released after 3:00 p.m. Central Time on Monday, August 4, 2008. The call will be broadcast live over the Internet and can be accessed at: http://www.natcogroup.com. Click on Investor Relations, then Calendar. To participate in the conference call by telephone, dial (US Toll Free) 1-877-879-6184 or (International) 719-325-4843 at least fifteen minutes prior to the start.
Diamond I, Inc. (OTCBB: DMOI), a reporting company trading on the OTCBB that is to change its name to "US BioFuels Exchange, Inc.," announced recently that it has obtained the first round of funding for its online biofuels exchange, USBiofuelsExhange.com (the "US-BX"). This first funding was obtained from a group of investors, including petroleum and biofuels marketing veterans and petroleum and biofuels marketing companies. This funding assures the launch of the US-BX. "This type of industry support certainly bolsters our belief that the time for the US-BX is now," said Tom Gray, DMOI's newest director. "We are excited with the building momentum and look forward to announcing more developments in this important project."
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