ConocoPhillips and Diamondback Energy Inc. both got a boost from surging natural gas prices in the first quarter, as a February deep freeze in the central U.S. stoked demand for the heating and power-plant fuel. Conoco’s average gas price from its Lower 48 operations more than doubled to $4.56 per thousand cubic feet from the fourth quarter, the Houston-based company said Tuesday. Diamondback, which operates in the heart of Texas’s biggest shale field, saw average gas prices jump more than 21 times to $3.05 per thousand cubic feet from a year earlier. Diamondback’s gain was reduced to six times prior-year levels once ... (full story)