operating expenses we define operating expenses as lease operating expenses , electricity generation expenses , transportation expenses , and marketing expenses , offset by the third-party revenues generated by electricity , transportation and marketing activities , as well as the effect of derivative settlements ( received or paid ) for gas purchases . lease operating expenses include fuel , labor , field office , vehicle , supervision , maintenance , tools and supplies , and workover expenses . taxes other than income taxes are excluded from operating expenses . the electricity , transportation and marketing activity related revenues are viewed and treated internally as a reduction to operating costs when tracking and analyzing the economics of development projects and the efficiency of our hydrocarbon recovery . additionally , we strive to minimize the variability of our fuel gas costs for our steam operations with gas hedges . overall , operating expense is used by management as a measure of the efficiency with which operations are performing . environmental , health & safety like other companies in the oil and gas industry , our operations are subject to stringent federal , state and local laws and regulations governing the discharge of materials into the environment or otherwise relating to environmental protection . current and future laws and regulations can materially impact our exploration , development and production plans . we are committed to good corporate citizenship in our communities , operating safely and protecting the environment and our employees . we monitor our eh & s performance through various measures , holding our employees and contractors to high standards . general and administrative expenses we monitor our cash general and administrative expenses as a measure of the efficiency of our overhead activities . such expenses are a key component of the appropriate level of support our corporate and professional team provides to the development of our assets and our day-to-day operations . production oil and gas production is a key driver of our operating performance , an important factor to the success of our business , and used in forecasting future development economics . we measure and closely monitor production on a continuous basis , adjusting our property development efforts in accordance with the results . we track production by commodity type and compare it to prior periods and expected results . business environment and market conditions the oil and gas industry is heavily influenced by commodity prices . average oil prices were lower for 2019 compared to 2018 . brent crude oil contract prices ranged during 2019 from $ 54.91 per bbl at the beginning , to a high of $ 74.57 per bbl and back to $ 56.23 per bbl . in california , the price we pay for fuel gas purchases is generally based on the kern , delivered index , as well as the socal index which were as low as $ 0.99 per mmbtu and as high as $ 22.38 per mmbtu for a short time in 2019 due to market disruptions , while we paid an average of $ 3.14 for the year . the henry hub spot price for natural gas fluctuated between $ 1.75 per mmbtu and $ 4.25 per mmbtu , with an average of $ 2.56 during 2019. our revenue , costs , profitability and future growth are highly dependent on the prices we receive for our oil and natural gas production and the prices we pay for our natural gas purchases which will continue to be affected by a variety of factors . please see “ item 1a . risk factors— risks related to our business and industry — oil , natural gas and ngl prices are volatile and directly affect our results . ” 56 index to financial statements and supplementary data the following table presents the average brent , wti , kern , and henry hub prices for the years ended december 31 , 2019 and 2018 : replace_table_token_19_th california oil prices are brent-influenced as california refiners import approximately 73 % of the state 's demand from opec countries and other waterborne sources , primarily the middle east and south america . there is a closer correlation of prices in california to brent pricing than to wti . without the higher costs associated with importing crude via rail or supertanker , we believe our in-state production and low-cost crude transportation options , coupled with brent-influenced pricing , will allow us to continue to realize strong cash margins in california . utah oil prices have historically traded at a discount to wti as the local refineries are designed for oil 's unique characteristics and the remoteness of the assets makes access to other markets logistically challenging . prices and differentials for ngls are related to the supply and demand for the products making up these liquids . some of them more typically correlate to the price of oil while others are affected by natural gas prices as well as the demand for certain chemical products for which they are used as feedstock . in addition , infrastructure constraints magnify pricing volatility . natural gas prices and differentials are strongly affected by local market fundamentals , availability of transportation capacity from producing areas and seasonal impacts . we purchase substantially more natural gas for our steamfloods and cogeneration facilities , than we produce and sell . consequently , higher gas prices have a negative impact on our operating costs . however , we mitigate a portion of this exposure by selling excess electricity from our cogeneration operations to third parties at prices linked to the price of natural gas . additionally , we strive to minimize the variability of our fuel gas costs for our steam operations by hedging a significant portion of such gas purchases . also , the negative impact of higher gas prices is partially offset by higher gas sales for the gas we produce . story_separator_special_tag on a per boe basis , dd & a increased $ 1.26 to $ 10.01 year over year primarily due to higher 2019 depreciation and depletion rates caused by increasing capital development programs in 2018 and 2019. impairment of oil and gas properties at year end 2019 , we evaluated our proved and unproved natural gas properties in regards to the decline in our expectations of future gas prices . as a result , we recorded a non-cash pre-tax asset impairment charge of $ 51 million for our piceance gas properties in colorado , of which $ 23 million was for proved properties and $ 28 million for unproved properties . 64 index to financial statements and supplementary data taxes , other than income taxes replace_table_token_25_th taxes , other than income taxes , increased to $ 3.84 per boe for the year ended december 31 , 2019 from $ 3.36 for the year ended december 31 , 2018 due to higher greenhouse gas allowance costs , partially offset by lower severance taxes than in the year ended december 31 , 2018 . greenhouse gas allowance costs increased as a result of fewer free allowances from the state of california and higher spot prices for those allowances purchased , both of which increased the average unit cost of emissions incurred . the lower severance taxes in the year ended december 31 , 2019 were the result of increased exemptions . other operating expense ( income ) other operating expenses were $ 5 million in the year ended december 31 , 2019 and mainly consisted of excess abandonment costs . the gains in 2018 included a $ 4 million gain from the sale of our east texas property , offset by a $ 1 million loss on settlement of asset retirement obligations , largely due to a change in timing of the retirements . interest expense interest expense decreased slightly due to less borrowings throughout 2019 compared to 2018. reorganization items , net reorganization items , net , consisted of less than $ 1 million expense for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , compared to $ 25 million of income primarily from the return of undistributed funds reserved for settlement of claims of general unsecured creditors for the year ended december 31 , 2018 . income tax expense ( benefit ) for the year ended december 31 , 2019 we had an income tax benefit of approximately $ 37 million and for the year ended december 31 , 2018 we had an income tax provision of approximately $ 43 million . the key contributor to the year-over-year change in income taxes and our effective rate from 23 % for the year ended december 31 , 2018 to ( 523 ) % for the year ended december 31 , 2019 is due to the recognition of us federal general business credits in 2019 and are related to the 2017 and 2018 tax periods . these credits are available to offset future federal income tax liabilities . refer to note 8 of the consolidated financial statements for more information about our income taxes . series a preferred stock dividends and conversion to common stock there were no series a preferred stock dividends in 2019. series a preferred stock ( the `` series a preferred stock `` ) was converted to common stock ( the `` series a preferred stock conversion `` ) in 2018 when a $ 60 million payment was made to preferred stockholders in the series a preferred stock conversion in conjunction with our ipo , and the $ 27 million conversion value assigned to the additional 1.9 million shares of common stock received by the preferred stockholders , and $ 11 million of dividends paid prior to the conversion . 65 index to financial statements and supplementary data liquidity and capital resources currently , we expect our primary sources of liquidity and capital resources will be levered free cash flow , and as needed , borrowings under the rbl facility . depending upon market conditions and other factors , we have issued and may issue additional equity and debt securities ; however , we expect our operations to continue to generate positive levered free cash flow at current commodity prices allowing us to fund operations at sustained production levels and organic growth . remaining excess cash flow could be used in various ways , including additional return of capital to shareholders , debt repurchases , bolt-on acquisitions and maintained as cash . as of december 31 , 2019 , we have available liquidity of $ 391 million under our rbl facility . we believe our liquidity and capital resources will be sufficient to conduct our business and operations for the next 12 months . cash dividends our board of directors approved a $ 0.12 per share quarterly cash dividend on our common stock each quarter in 2019. we paid the fourth quarter dividend in january 2020 and declared the first quarter 2020 dividend of $ 0.12 per share in february 2020 , which is payable in april 2020. since our ipo in july 2018 through february 2020 , we have returned $ 65 million in regular quarterly dividends . 2026 notes offering in february 2018 , we issued our 7.0 % 2026 notes through our operating subsidiary , berry llc , which resulted in net proceeds to us of approximately $ 391 million after deducting expenses and the initial purchasers ' discount . we used the net proceeds from the issuance to repay the $ 379 million outstanding balance on the rbl facility and used the remainder for general corporate purposes . we may , at our option , redeem all or a portion of the 2026 notes at any time on or after february 15 , 2021. we are also entitled to redeem up to 35 % of the aggregate principal amount of the 2026 notes before february 15 , 2021 , with an amount of cash not

cash used in investing activities increased $ 104 million for the year ended december 31 , 2019 when compared to the year ended december 31 , 2018 , primarily due to an increase in capital spending in accordance with the 2019 capital program . financing activities cash used in financing activities was approximately $ 85 million for the year ended december 31 , 2019 and was primarily used to purchase treasury stock of $ 47 million and pay dividends on common stock of approximately $ 39 million , offset by approximately $ 2 million of net borrowings under the rbl facility for monthly working capital fluctuations . cash provided by financing activities was approximately $ 16 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 and was due to the net proceeds of $ 391 million from the issuance of our 2026 notes and $ 110 million from our ipo in july 2018 , offset by $ 379 million in payments on our rbl facility , a $ 60 million payment to preferred stockholders in connection with the series a preferred stock conversion , $ 20 million payments to repurchase the rights to our common stock from certain claimholders originating from the bankruptcy process , $ 11 million in cash dividends declared on our series a preferred stock , $ 7 million in dividends paid on our common stock and $ 3 million to acquire treasury shares under our stockrepurchase program .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```cash used in investing activities increased $ 104 million for the year ended december 31 , 2019 when compared to the year ended december 31 , 2018 , primarily due to an increase in capital spending in accordance with the 2019 capital program . financing activities cash used in financing activities was approximately $ 85 million for the year ended december 31 , 2019 and was primarily used to purchase treasury stock of $ 47 million and pay dividends on common stock of approximately $ 39 million , offset by approximately $ 2 million of net borrowings under the rbl facility for monthly working capital fluctuations . cash provided by financing activities was approximately $ 16 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 and was due to the net proceeds of $ 391 million from the issuance of our 2026 notes and $ 110 million from our ipo in july 2018 , offset by $ 379 million in payments on our rbl facility , a $ 60 million payment to preferred stockholders in connection with the series a preferred stock conversion , $ 20 million payments to repurchase the rights to our common stock from certain claimholders originating from the bankruptcy process , $ 11 million in cash dividends declared on our series a preferred stock , $ 7 million in dividends paid on our common stock and $ 3 million to acquire treasury shares under our stockrepurchase program .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : operating expenses we define operating expenses as lease operating expenses , electricity generation expenses , transportation expenses , and marketing expenses , offset by the third-party revenues generated by electricity , transportation and marketing activities , as well as the effect of derivative settlements ( received or paid ) for gas purchases . lease operating expenses include fuel , labor , field office , vehicle , supervision , maintenance , tools and supplies , and workover expenses . taxes other than income taxes are excluded from operating expenses . the electricity , transportation and marketing activity related revenues are viewed and treated internally as a reduction to operating costs when tracking and analyzing the economics of development projects and the efficiency of our hydrocarbon recovery . additionally , we strive to minimize the variability of our fuel gas costs for our steam operations with gas hedges . overall , operating expense is used by management as a measure of the efficiency with which operations are performing . environmental , health & safety like other companies in the oil and gas industry , our operations are subject to stringent federal , state and local laws and regulations governing the discharge of materials into the environment or otherwise relating to environmental protection . current and future laws and regulations can materially impact our exploration , development and production plans . we are committed to good corporate citizenship in our communities , operating safely and protecting the environment and our employees . we monitor our eh & s performance through various measures , holding our employees and contractors to high standards . general and administrative expenses we monitor our cash general and administrative expenses as a measure of the efficiency of our overhead activities . such expenses are a key component of the appropriate level of support our corporate and professional team provides to the development of our assets and our day-to-day operations . production oil and gas production is a key driver of our operating performance , an important factor to the success of our business , and used in forecasting future development economics . we measure and closely monitor production on a continuous basis , adjusting our property development efforts in accordance with the results . we track production by commodity type and compare it to prior periods and expected results . business environment and market conditions the oil and gas industry is heavily influenced by commodity prices . average oil prices were lower for 2019 compared to 2018 . brent crude oil contract prices ranged during 2019 from $ 54.91 per bbl at the beginning , to a high of $ 74.57 per bbl and back to $ 56.23 per bbl . in california , the price we pay for fuel gas purchases is generally based on the kern , delivered index , as well as the socal index which were as low as $ 0.99 per mmbtu and as high as $ 22.38 per mmbtu for a short time in 2019 due to market disruptions , while we paid an average of $ 3.14 for the year . the henry hub spot price for natural gas fluctuated between $ 1.75 per mmbtu and $ 4.25 per mmbtu , with an average of $ 2.56 during 2019. our revenue , costs , profitability and future growth are highly dependent on the prices we receive for our oil and natural gas production and the prices we pay for our natural gas purchases which will continue to be affected by a variety of factors . please see “ item 1a . risk factors— risks related to our business and industry — oil , natural gas and ngl prices are volatile and directly affect our results . ” 56 index to financial statements and supplementary data the following table presents the average brent , wti , kern , and henry hub prices for the years ended december 31 , 2019 and 2018 : replace_table_token_19_th california oil prices are brent-influenced as california refiners import approximately 73 % of the state 's demand from opec countries and other waterborne sources , primarily the middle east and south america . there is a closer correlation of prices in california to brent pricing than to wti . without the higher costs associated with importing crude via rail or supertanker , we believe our in-state production and low-cost crude transportation options , coupled with brent-influenced pricing , will allow us to continue to realize strong cash margins in california . utah oil prices have historically traded at a discount to wti as the local refineries are designed for oil 's unique characteristics and the remoteness of the assets makes access to other markets logistically challenging . prices and differentials for ngls are related to the supply and demand for the products making up these liquids . some of them more typically correlate to the price of oil while others are affected by natural gas prices as well as the demand for certain chemical products for which they are used as feedstock . in addition , infrastructure constraints magnify pricing volatility . natural gas prices and differentials are strongly affected by local market fundamentals , availability of transportation capacity from producing areas and seasonal impacts . we purchase substantially more natural gas for our steamfloods and cogeneration facilities , than we produce and sell . consequently , higher gas prices have a negative impact on our operating costs . however , we mitigate a portion of this exposure by selling excess electricity from our cogeneration operations to third parties at prices linked to the price of natural gas . additionally , we strive to minimize the variability of our fuel gas costs for our steam operations by hedging a significant portion of such gas purchases . also , the negative impact of higher gas prices is partially offset by higher gas sales for the gas we produce . story_separator_special_tag on a per boe basis , dd & a increased $ 1.26 to $ 10.01 year over year primarily due to higher 2019 depreciation and depletion rates caused by increasing capital development programs in 2018 and 2019. impairment of oil and gas properties at year end 2019 , we evaluated our proved and unproved natural gas properties in regards to the decline in our expectations of future gas prices . as a result , we recorded a non-cash pre-tax asset impairment charge of $ 51 million for our piceance gas properties in colorado , of which $ 23 million was for proved properties and $ 28 million for unproved properties . 64 index to financial statements and supplementary data taxes , other than income taxes replace_table_token_25_th taxes , other than income taxes , increased to $ 3.84 per boe for the year ended december 31 , 2019 from $ 3.36 for the year ended december 31 , 2018 due to higher greenhouse gas allowance costs , partially offset by lower severance taxes than in the year ended december 31 , 2018 . greenhouse gas allowance costs increased as a result of fewer free allowances from the state of california and higher spot prices for those allowances purchased , both of which increased the average unit cost of emissions incurred . the lower severance taxes in the year ended december 31 , 2019 were the result of increased exemptions . other operating expense ( income ) other operating expenses were $ 5 million in the year ended december 31 , 2019 and mainly consisted of excess abandonment costs . the gains in 2018 included a $ 4 million gain from the sale of our east texas property , offset by a $ 1 million loss on settlement of asset retirement obligations , largely due to a change in timing of the retirements . interest expense interest expense decreased slightly due to less borrowings throughout 2019 compared to 2018. reorganization items , net reorganization items , net , consisted of less than $ 1 million expense for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , compared to $ 25 million of income primarily from the return of undistributed funds reserved for settlement of claims of general unsecured creditors for the year ended december 31 , 2018 . income tax expense ( benefit ) for the year ended december 31 , 2019 we had an income tax benefit of approximately $ 37 million and for the year ended december 31 , 2018 we had an income tax provision of approximately $ 43 million . the key contributor to the year-over-year change in income taxes and our effective rate from 23 % for the year ended december 31 , 2018 to ( 523 ) % for the year ended december 31 , 2019 is due to the recognition of us federal general business credits in 2019 and are related to the 2017 and 2018 tax periods . these credits are available to offset future federal income tax liabilities . refer to note 8 of the consolidated financial statements for more information about our income taxes . series a preferred stock dividends and conversion to common stock there were no series a preferred stock dividends in 2019. series a preferred stock ( the `` series a preferred stock `` ) was converted to common stock ( the `` series a preferred stock conversion `` ) in 2018 when a $ 60 million payment was made to preferred stockholders in the series a preferred stock conversion in conjunction with our ipo , and the $ 27 million conversion value assigned to the additional 1.9 million shares of common stock received by the preferred stockholders , and $ 11 million of dividends paid prior to the conversion . 65 index to financial statements and supplementary data liquidity and capital resources currently , we expect our primary sources of liquidity and capital resources will be levered free cash flow , and as needed , borrowings under the rbl facility . depending upon market conditions and other factors , we have issued and may issue additional equity and debt securities ; however , we expect our operations to continue to generate positive levered free cash flow at current commodity prices allowing us to fund operations at sustained production levels and organic growth . remaining excess cash flow could be used in various ways , including additional return of capital to shareholders , debt repurchases , bolt-on acquisitions and maintained as cash . as of december 31 , 2019 , we have available liquidity of $ 391 million under our rbl facility . we believe our liquidity and capital resources will be sufficient to conduct our business and operations for the next 12 months . cash dividends our board of directors approved a $ 0.12 per share quarterly cash dividend on our common stock each quarter in 2019. we paid the fourth quarter dividend in january 2020 and declared the first quarter 2020 dividend of $ 0.12 per share in february 2020 , which is payable in april 2020. since our ipo in july 2018 through february 2020 , we have returned $ 65 million in regular quarterly dividends . 2026 notes offering in february 2018 , we issued our 7.0 % 2026 notes through our operating subsidiary , berry llc , which resulted in net proceeds to us of approximately $ 391 million after deducting expenses and the initial purchasers ' discount . we used the net proceeds from the issuance to repay the $ 379 million outstanding balance on the rbl facility and used the remainder for general corporate purposes . we may , at our option , redeem all or a portion of the 2026 notes at any time on or after february 15 , 2021. we are also entitled to redeem up to 35 % of the aggregate principal amount of the 2026 notes before february 15 , 2021 , with an amount of cash not

