By Adam Wilmoth, Energy EditorHigher oil prices and improved technology have led to increasing profits this year for the country’s independent oil and natural gas producers, according to a report released this week from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The report looked at 60 publicly traded energy companies and found that the independent producers focusing on recovering oil and natural gas from shale and other dense rock were more profitable in the first six months of 2014 than they were in the previous two years.Read more on NewsOK.com