Filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3)
File No. 333-270699
PROSPECTUS
United
States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP®*
Shares
*Principal
U.S. Listing Exchange: NYSE Arca, Inc.
The United
States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP (“USL”) is an exchange traded fund organized as a limited partnership that issues shares
that trade on the NYSE Arca stock exchange (“NYSE Arca”). USL’s investment objective is to track a benchmark
of short-term oil futures contracts. USL pays its general partner, United States Commodity Funds LLC (“USCF”), a limited
liability company, a management fee and incurs operating costs. USL and USCF are located at 1850 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Suite 640,
Walnut Creek, California 94596. The telephone number for both USL and USCF is 510.522.9600. In order for a hypothetical investment
in shares to break even over the next 12 months, assuming a selling price of $34.19 (the net asset value as of February 28, 2023),
the investment would have to generate a 0.00% or $0.00 return.
USL is
an exchange traded fund. This means that most investors who decide to buy or sell shares of USL place their trade orders through
their brokers and may incur customary brokerage commissions and charges. Shares trade on the NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol
“USL” and are bought and sold throughout the trading day at bid and ask prices like other publicly traded securities.
Shares
trade on the NYSE Arca after they are initially purchased by “Authorized Participants,” institutional firms that purchase
and redeem shares in blocks of 50,000 shares called “baskets” through USL’s marketing agent, ALPS Distributors,
Inc. (the “Marketing Agent”). The price of a basket is equal to the net asset value (“NAV”) of 50,000
shares on the day that the order to purchase the basket is accepted by the Marketing Agent. The NAV per share is calculated by
taking the current market value of USL’s total assets (after close of NYSE Arca) subtracting any liabilities and dividing
that total by the total number of outstanding shares. The offering of USL’s shares is a “best efforts” offering,
which means that neither the Marketing Agent nor any Authorized Participant is required to purchase a specific number or dollar
amount of shares. USCF pays the Marketing Agent a marketing fee consisting of a fixed annual amount plus an incentive fee based
on the amount of shares sold. Authorized Participants will not receive from USL, USCF or any of their affiliates any fee or other
compensation in connection with the sale of shares. Aggregate compensation paid to the Marketing Agent and any affiliate of USCF
for distribution-related services in connection with this offering of shares will not exceed ten percent (10%) of the gross proceeds
of the offering.
Investors
who buy or sell shares during the day from their broker may do so at a premium or discount relative to the market value of the
underlying oil futures contracts in which USL invests due to supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market
for shares that are closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of crude oil and the oil
futures contracts that serve as USL’s investment benchmark. INVESTING IN USL INVOLVES RISKS SIMILAR TO THOSE INVOLVED
WITH AN INVESTMENT DIRECTLY IN THE OIL MARKETS, BUT IT IS NOT A PROXY FOR TRADING DIRECTLY IN THE OIL MARKETS. Investing in
USL also involves the correlation risk described below and other significant risks. You should consider carefully the risks described
below before making an investment decision. See “Risk Factors Involved with an Investment in USL” beginning
on page 7.
The offering
of USL’s shares is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in accordance with the Securities
Act of 1933 (the “1933 Act”). The offering is intended to be a continuous offering and is not expected to terminate
until all of the registered shares have been sold or three years from the date of the original offering, whichever is earlier,
unless extended as permitted under the rules under the 1933 Act, although the offering may be temporarily suspended if and when
no suitable investments for USL are available or practicable. USL is not a mutual fund registered under the Investment Company
Act of 1940 (“1940 Act”) and is not subject to regulation under the 1940 Act.
NEITHER
THE SEC NOR ANY STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED OF THE SECURITIES OFFERED IN THIS PROSPECTUS, OR DETERMINED
IF THIS PROSPECTUS IS TRUTHFUL OR COMPLETE. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.
USL is
a commodity pool and USCF is a commodity pool operator (“CPO”) subject to regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission (“CFTC”) and the National Futures Association (“NFA”) under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”).
THE
COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION HAS NOT PASSED UPON THE MERITS OF PARTICIPATING IN THIS POOL NOR HAS THE COMMISSION PASSED
ON THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT.
The
date of this prospectus is April 28, 2023.
COMMODITY
FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
RISK
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
YOU
SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER WHETHER YOUR FINANCIAL CONDITION PERMITS YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN A COMMODITY POOL. IN SO DOING, YOU SHOULD
BE AWARE THAT COMMODITY INTEREST TRADING CAN QUICKLY LEAD TO LARGE LOSSES AS WELL AS GAINS. SUCH TRADING LOSSES CAN SHARPLY REDUCE
THE NET ASSET VALUE OF THE POOL AND CONSEQUENTLY THE VALUE OF YOUR INTEREST IN THE POOL. IN ADDITION, RESTRICTIONS ON REDEMPTIONS
MAY AFFECT YOUR ABILITY TO WITHDRAW YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THE POOL.
FURTHER,
COMMODITY POOLS MAY BE SUBJECT TO SUBSTANTIAL CHARGES FOR MANAGEMENT, AND ADVISORY AND BROKERAGE FEES. IT MAY BE NECESSARY FOR
THOSE POOLS THAT ARE SUBJECT TO THESE CHARGES TO MAKE SUBSTANTIAL TRADING PROFITS TO AVOID DEPLETION OR EXHAUSTION OF THEIR ASSETS.
THIS DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT CONTAINS A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF EACH EXPENSE TO BE CHARGED THIS POOL AT PAGE 6 AND A STATEMENT
OF THE PERCENTAGE RETURN NECESSARY TO BREAK EVEN, THAT IS, TO RECOVER THE AMOUNT OF YOUR INITIAL INVESTMENT, AT PAGE 41.
THIS
BRIEF STATEMENT CANNOT DISCLOSE ALL THE RISKS AND OTHER FACTORS NECESSARY TO EVALUATE YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS COMMODITY POOL.
THEREFORE, BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS COMMODITY POOL, YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY STUDY THIS DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT, INCLUDING
A DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINCIPAL RISK FACTORS OF THIS INVESTMENT, AT PAGE 7.
YOU
SHOULD ALSO BE AWARE THAT THIS COMMODITY POOL MAY TRADE FOREIGN FUTURES OR OPTIONS CONTRACTS. TRANSACTIONS ON MARKETS LOCATED
OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES, INCLUDING MARKETS FORMALLY LINKED TO A UNITED STATES MARKET, MAY BE SUBJECT TO REGULATIONS WHICH OFFER
DIFFERENT OR DIMINISHED PROTECTION TO THE POOL AND ITS PARTICIPANTS. FURTHER, UNITED STATES REGULATORY AUTHORITIES MAY BE UNABLE
TO COMPEL THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE RULES OF REGULATORY AUTHORITIES OR MARKETS IN NON-UNITED STATES JURISDICTIONS WHERE TRANSACTIONS
FOR THE POOL MAY BE EFFECTED.
SWAPS
TRANSACTIONS, LIKE OTHER FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS, INVOLVE A VARIETY OF SIGNIFICANT RISKS. THE SPECIFIC RISKS PRESENTED BY A PARTICULAR
SWAP TRANSACTION NECESSARILY DEPEND UPON THE TERMS OF THE TRANSACTION AND YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES. IN GENERAL, HOWEVER, ALL SWAPS TRANSACTIONS
INVOLVE SOME COMBINATION OF MARKET RISK, CREDIT RISK, COUNTERPARTY CREDIT RISK, FUNDING RISK, LIQUIDITY RISK, AND OPERATIONAL
RISK.
HIGHLY
CUSTOMIZED SWAPS TRANSACTIONS IN PARTICULAR MAY INCREASE LIQUIDITY RISK, WHICH MAY RESULT IN A SUSPENSION OF REDEMPTIONS. HIGHLY
LEVERAGED TRANSACTIONS MAY EXPERIENCE SUBSTANTIAL GAINS OR LOSSES IN VALUE AS A RESULT OF RELATIVELY SMALL CHANGES IN THE VALUE
OR LEVEL OF AN UNDERLYING OR RELATED MARKET FACTOR.
IN
EVALUATING THE RISKS AND CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH A PARTICULAR SWAP TRANSACTION, IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER THAT
A SWAP TRANSACTION MAY BE MODIFIED OR TERMINATED ONLY BY MUTUAL CONSENT OF THE ORIGINAL PARTIES AND SUBJECT TO AGREEMENT ON INDIVIDUALLY
NEGOTIATED TERMS. THEREFORE, IT MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE FOR THE COMMODITY POOL OPERATOR TO MODIFY, TERMINATE, OR OFFSET THE POOL’S
OBLIGATIONS OR THE POOL’S EXPOSURE TO THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH A TRANSACTION PRIOR TO ITS SCHEDULED TERMINATION DATE.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
PROSPECTUS
SUMMARY
This
is only a summary of the prospectus and, while it contains material information about USL and its shares, it does not contain
or summarize all of the information about USL and the shares contained in this prospectus that is material and/or which may be
important to you. You should read this entire prospectus, including “Risk Factors Involved with an Investment in USL”
beginning on page 7, before making an investment decision about the shares. For a glossary of defined terms, see Appendix
A.
USL
United
States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP (“USL”), a Delaware limited partnership, is a commodity pool that continuously issues
common shares of beneficial interest that may be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca stock exchange (“NYSE Arca”).
USL is managed and controlled by United States Commodity Funds LLC (“USCF”), a Delaware limited liability company.
USCF is registered as a CPO with the CFTC and is a member of the NFA.
USL’s
Investment Objective and Strategy:
The investment
objective of USL is for the daily changes in percentage terms of its per share net asset value (“NAV”) to reflect
the daily changes in percentage terms of the spot price of light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma, as measured
by the daily changes in the average of the prices of specified short-term futures contracts on light, sweet crude oil called the
“Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts,” plus interest earned on USL’s collateral holdings, less USL’s expenses.
What
Are the “Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts”? |
|
The
Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts are the futures contracts on light, sweet crude oil as traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange
(the “NYMEX”) that is the near month contract to expire, and the contracts for the following 11 months, for a
total of 12 consecutive months’ contracts, except when the near month contract is within two weeks of expiration, in
which case it will be the futures contract that is the next month contract to expire and the contracts for the following 11
consecutive months. When calculating the daily movement of the average price of the 12 contracts, each contract month is equally
weighted. |
|
USL seeks
to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in futures contracts for light, sweet crude oil, other types of crude
oil, diesel-heating oil, gasoline, natural gas, and other petroleum-based fuels that are traded on the NYMEX, ICE Futures Europe
and ICE Futures U.S. (together, “ICE Futures”), or other U.S. and foreign exchanges (collectively, “Oil Futures
Contracts”), and to a lesser extent, in order to comply with regulatory requirements, risk mitigation measures, liquidity
requirements, or in view of market conditions, other oil-related investments such as cash-settled options on Oil Futures Contracts,
forward contracts for oil, cleared swap contracts and non-exchange traded (“over-the-counter” or “OTC”)
transactions that are based on the price of oil and other petroleum-based fuels, Oil Futures Contracts and indices based on the
foregoing (collectively, “Other Oil-Related Investments”). Market conditions that USCF currently anticipates could
cause USL to invest in Other Oil-Related Investments include, but are not limited to, those allowing USL to obtain greater liquidity
or to execute transactions with more favorable pricing. For convenience and unless otherwise specified, Oil Futures Contracts
and Other Oil-Related Investments, collectively are referred to as “Oil Interests” in this prospectus.
In addition,
USCF believes that market arbitrage opportunities will cause daily changes in USL’s share price on the NYSE Arca on a percentage
basis to closely track daily changes in USL’s per share NAV on a percentage basis. USCF further believes that the daily
changes in the average prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts have historically tracked the daily changes in prices of
light, sweet crude oil. USCF believes that the net effect of these relationships will be that the daily changes in the price of
USL’s shares on the NYSE Arca on a percentage basis will closely track the daily changes in the spot price of a barrel of
light, sweet crude oil on a percentage basis, less USL’s expenses.
Specifically,
USL seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing so that the average daily percentage change in USL’s NAV for
any period of 30 successive valuation days will be within plus/minus ten percent (10%) of the average daily percentage change
in the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts over the same period.
Investors
should be aware that USL’s investment objective is not for its NAV or market price of shares to equal, in dollar
terms, the spot price of light, sweet crude oil or any particular futures contract based on light, sweet crude oil nor is USL’s
investment objective for the percentage change in its NAV to reflect the percentage change of the price of any particular futures
contract as measured over a time period greater than one day. This is because natural market forces called contango and backwardation
have impacted the total return on an investment in USL’s shares during the past year relative to a hypothetical direct investment
in crude oil and, in the future, it is likely that the relationship between the market price of USL’s shares and changes
in the spot prices of light, sweet crude oil will continue to be impacted by contango and backwardation. (It is important to note
that the disclosure above ignores the potential costs associated with physically owning and storing crude oil, which could be
substantial.)
Principal Investment Risks
of an Investment in USL
An investment
in USL involves a degree of risk. Some of the risks you may face are summarized below. A more extensive discussion of these risks
appears beginning on page 7.
Investment Risk
Investors
may choose to use USL as a means of investing indirectly in crude oil. INVESTING IN USL INVOLVES RISKS SIMILAR TO THOSE INVOLVED
WITH AN INVESTMENT DIRECTLY IN THE OIL MARKETS, BUT IT IS NOT A PROXY FOR TRADING DIRECTLY IN THE OIL MARKETS. Investing in
USL also involves the correlation risk described below and other significant risks. You should carefully consider the risks described
below before making an investment decision. An investment in USL includes the following investment risks:
| · | The
NAV of USL’s shares relates directly to the value of the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contracts and other assets held by USL and fluctuations in the prices of these assets
could materially adversely affect an investment in USL’s shares. Past performance
is not necessarily indicative of future results; all or substantially all of an investment
in USL could be lost. |
| · | The
demand for crude oil correlates closely with general economic growth rates. |
| · | Other
factors that may affect the demand for crude oil and therefore its price, include technological
improvements in energy efficiency; seasonal weather patterns, which affect the demand
for crude oil associated with heating and cooling; increased competitiveness of alternative
energy sources that have so far generally not been competitive with oil without the benefit
of government subsidies or mandates; and changes in technology or consumer preferences
that alter fuel choices, such as toward alternative fueled or electric transportation
and broad-based changes in personal income levels. |
| · | Crude
oil prices also vary depending on a number of factors affecting supply and demand of
crude oil, including geopolitical risk associated with wars, terrorist acts and tensions
between countries. |
| · | The
supply of and demand for crude oil may also be impacted by changes in interest rates,
inflation, and other local or regional market conditions, as well as by the development
of alternative energy sources. |
| · | Price
volatility may possibly cause the total loss of your investment. |
| · | Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine, and sanctions brought by the United States and other countries against
Russia and others, have caused disruptions in many business sectors, resulting in significant
market disruptions that may lead to increased volatility in the price of certain commodities, and may lead to volatility in USL’s
NAV or share price. |
| · | COVID-19
and other infectious disease outbreaks could negatively affect the valuation and performance
of USL’s investments. |
| · | Historical
performance of USL and the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts is not indicative of future
performance. |
Correlation Risk
As further
described below, an investment in USL includes the following correlation risks:
| · | An
investment in USL may provide little or no diversification benefits. Thus, in a declining
market, USL may have no gains to offset losses from other investments, and an investor
may suffer losses on an investment in USL while incurring losses with respect to other
asset classes. |
| · | The
market price at which investors buy or sell shares may be significantly less or more
than NAV. |
| · | Daily
percentage changes in USL’s NAV may not correlate with daily percentage changes
in the average of the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts. |
| · | Daily
percentage changes in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts may not correlate
with daily percentage changes in the spot price of crude oil. |
| · | An
investment in USL is not a proxy for investing in the oil markets, and the daily percentage
changes in the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts, or the NAV of USL, may
not correlate with daily percentage changes in the spot price of light, sweet crude oil. |
| · | Natural
forces in the crude oil futures market known as “backwardation” and “contango”
may increase USL’s tracking error and/or negatively impact total return. |
| · | Accountability
levels, position limits, and daily price fluctuation limits set by the exchanges have
the potential to cause tracking error, by limiting USL’s investments, including
its ability to fully invest in the Benchmark Futures Contracts, which could cause the
average of the prices of shares to substantially vary from the price of the Benchmark
Oil Futures Contracts. |
| · | Risk
mitigation measures that could be imposed by USL’s futures commission merchants
(“FCMs”) have the potential to cause tracking error by limiting USL’s
investments, including its ability to fully invest in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts
and other Futures Contracts, which could cause the price of USL’s shares to substantially
vary from the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts. |
To the
extent that investors use USL as a means of indirectly investing in crude oil, there is the risk that the daily changes in the
price of USL’s shares on the NYSE Arca on a percentage basis will not closely track the daily changes in the spot price
of light, sweet crude oil on a percentage basis. This could happen if the price of shares traded on the NYSE Arca does not correlate
closely with the value of USL’s NAV; the changes in USL’s NAV do not correlate closely with the changes in the average
prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts; or the changes in the average prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts do
not closely correlate with the changes in the cash or spot price of crude oil. This is a risk because if these correlations do
not exist, then investors may not be able to use USL as a cost-effective way to indirectly invest in crude oil or as a hedge against
the risk of loss in crude oil-related transactions.
USCF
believes that holding futures contracts whose expiration dates are spread out over a 12 month period of time will cause the total
return of such a portfolio to vary compared to a portfolio that holds only a single month’s contract (such as the near month
contract). In particular, USCF believes that the total return of a portfolio holding contracts with a range of expiration months
will be impacted differently by the price relationship between different contract months of the same commodity future compared
to the total return of a portfolio consisting of the near month contract. For example, in cases in which the near month contract’s
price is higher than the price of contracts that expire later in time (a situation known as “backwardation” in the
futures markets), then absent the impact of the overall movement in crude oil prices, the value of the near month contract would
tend to rise as it approaches expiration. Conversely, in cases in which the near month contract’s price is lower than the
price of contracts that expire later in time (a situation known as “contango” in the futures markets), then absent
the impact of the overall movement in crude oil prices, the value of the near month contract would tend to decline as it approaches
expiration. The total return of a portfolio that owned the near month contract and “rolled” forward each month by
selling the near month contract as it approached expiration and purchasing the next month contract to expire would be positively
impacted by a backwardation market, and negatively impacted by a contango market. Depending on the exact price relationship of
the different month’s prices, portfolio expenses, and the overall movement of crude oil prices, the impact of backwardation
and contango could have a major impact on the total return of such a portfolio over time. USCF believes that based on historical
evidence a portfolio that held futures contracts with a range of expiration dates spread out over a 12 month period of time would
typically be impacted less by the positive effect of backwardation and the negative effect of contango compared to a portfolio
that held contracts of a single near month. As a result, absent the impact of any other factors, a portfolio of 12 different monthly
contracts would tend to have a lower total return than a near month only portfolio in a backwardation market and a higher total
return in a contango market. However, there can be no assurance that such historical relationships would provide the same or similar
results in the future.
Volatility
in the oil market could limit USL’s ability to have a substantial portion of its assets invested in the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contracts. In such a circumstance, USL could, if it determined it appropriate to do so in light of market conditions and regulatory
requirements, invest in other Oil Futures Contracts and/or Other Oil-Related Investments.
Tax Risk
USL is
organized and operated as a limited partnership in accordance with the provisions of its limited partnership agreement (the “LP
Agreement”) and applicable state law, and therefore, has a more complex tax treatment than conventional mutual funds. An
investment in USL includes the following tax risks:
| · | An
investor’s tax liability may exceed the amount of distributions, if any, on its
shares. |
| · | An
investor’s allocable share of taxable income or loss may differ from its economic
income or loss on its shares. |
| · | Items
of income, gain, deduction, loss and credit with respect to shares could be reallocated
for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and USL could be liable for U.S. federal income
tax, if the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) does not accept the assumptions
and conventions applied by USL in allocating those items, with potential adverse consequences
for an investor. |
| · | USL
could be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which may substantially
reduce the value of the shares. |
| · | USL
is organized and operated as a limited partnership in accordance with the provisions
of the LP Agreement and applicable state law, and therefore, USL has a more complex tax
treatment than traditional mutual funds. |
| · | If
USL is required to withhold tax with respect to any non-U.S. shareholders, the cost of
such withholding may be borne by all shareholders. |
| · | The
impact of changes in U.S. federal income tax laws on USL is uncertain. |
Over-the-Counter (“OTC”)
Contract Risk
USL may
also invest in Other Oil-Related Investments, many of which are negotiated or “OTC” contracts that are not as liquid
as Oil Futures Contracts and expose USL to credit risk that its counterparty may not be able to satisfy its obligations to USL.
An investment in USL includes the following OTC contract risks:
| · | USL
will be subject to credit risk with respect to counterparties to OTC contracts entered
into by USL or held by special purpose or structured vehicles. |
| · | Valuing
OTC derivatives may be less certain than actively traded financial instruments. |
|
· |
USL’s rights
under an OTC contract may be restricted by regulations. |
|
· |
The use of swap agreements
may expose USL to early termination risk, which could result in significant losses to USL. |
Other Risks
USL pays
fees and expenses that are incurred regardless of whether USL is profitable.
Unlike
mutual funds, commodity pools or other investment pools that manage their investments in an attempt to realize income and gains
and distribute such income and gains to their investors, USL generally does not distribute cash to shareholders. You should not
invest in USL if you will need cash distributions from USL to pay taxes on your share of income and gains of USL, if any, or for
any other reason.
You will
have no rights to participate in the management of USL and will have to rely on the duties and judgment of USCF to manage USL.
USL is
subject to actual and potential inherent conflicts involving USCF, various commodity futures brokers and “Authorized Participants,”
the institutional firms that directly purchase and redeem shares in baskets. USCF’s officers, directors and employees do
not devote their time exclusively to USL. USCF’s persons are directors, officers or employees of other entities that may
compete with USL for their services, including other commodity pools (funds) that USCF manages. USCF could have a conflict between
its responsibilities to USL and to those other entities. As a result of these and other relationships, parties involved with USL
have a financial incentive to act in a manner other than in the best interests of USL and the shareholders.
In addition,
an investment in USL includes the following other risks:
| · | USL
is not leveraged, but it could become leveraged if it had insufficient assets to completely
meet its margin or collateral requirements relating to its investments. |
| · | USL
may temporarily limit the offering of Creation Baskets. |
| · | Certain
of USL’s investments could be illiquid, which could cause large losses to investors
at any time or from time to time. |
| · | USL
is not actively managed and its investment objective is to track the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contracts so that the average daily percentage change in USL’s NAV for any period
of 30 successive valuation days will be within plus/minus ten percent (10%) of the average
daily percentage change in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts over the
same period. |
| · | USL
may not meet the listing standards of NYSE Arca, which would adversely impact an investor’s
ability to sell shares. |
| · | The
NYSE Arca may halt trading in USL’s shares, which would adversely impact an investor’s
ability to sell shares. |
| · | The
liquidity of USL’s shares may also be affected by the withdrawal from participation
of Authorized Participants, which could adversely affect the market price of the shares. |
| · | Shareholders
that are not Authorized Participants may only purchase or sell their shares in secondary
trading markets, and the conditions associated with trading in secondary markets may
adversely affect investors’ investment in the shares. |
| · | The
lack of an active trading market for USL’s shares may result in losses on an investor’s
investment in USL at the time the investor sells the shares. |
| · | Limited
partners and shareholders do not participate in the management of USL and do not control
USCF, so they do not have any influence over basic matters that affect USL. |
| · | Limited
partners may have limited liability in certain circumstances, including potentially having
liability for the return of wrongful distributions. |
| · | USCF’s
LLC Agreement provides limited authority to the Non-Management Directors, and any Director
of USCF may be removed by USCF’s parent company, which is wholly owned by The Marygold
Companies, Inc., formerly Concierge Technologies, Inc., a controlled public company where
the majority of shares are owned by Nicholas D. Gerber along with certain of his other
family members and certain other shareholders. |
| · | There
is a risk that USL will not earn trading gains sufficient to compensate for the fees
and expenses that it must pay and as such USL may not earn any profit. |
| · | USL
is subject to extensive regulatory reporting and compliance. |
| · | Regulatory
changes or actions, including the implementation of new legislation, are impossible to
predict but may significantly and adversely affect USL. |
| · | USL
is not a registered investment company so shareholders do not have the protections of
the 1940 Act. |
| · | Trading
in international markets could expose USL to credit and regulatory risk. |
| · | USL
and USCF may have conflicts of interest, which may permit them to favor their own interests
to the detriment of shareholders. |
| · | USL
could terminate at any time and cause the liquidation and potential loss of an investor’s
investment and could upset the overall maturity and timing of an investor’s investment
portfolio. |
| · | USL
does not expect to make cash distributions. |
| · | An
unanticipated number of Redemption Basket requests during a short period of time could
have an adverse effect on USL’s NAV. |
| · | The
suspension in the ability of Authorized Participants to purchase Creation Baskets could
cause USL’s NAV to differ materially from its trading price. |
| · | USL
may determine that, to allow it to reinvest the proceeds from sales of its Creation Baskets
in currently permitted assets in a manner that meets its investment objective, it may
limit its offers of Creation Baskets. |
| · | In
a rising rate environment, USL may not be able to fully invest at prevailing rates until
any current investments in Treasury Bills mature in order to avoid selling those investments
at a loss. |
| · | USL
may potentially lose money by investing in government money market funds. |
| · | The
failure or bankruptcy of a clearing broker or USL’s Custodian could result in a
substantial loss of USL’s assets and could impair USL in its ability to execute
trades. |
| · | The
failure or bankruptcy of USL’s Custodian could result in a substantial loss of
USL’s assets. |
| · | Due
to the increased use of technologies, intentional and unintentional cyber-attacks pose
operational and information security risks. |
| · | USL’s
investment returns could be negatively affected by climate change and greenhouse gas
restrictions. |
| · | USCF
is the subject of class action, derivative, and other litigation. In light of the inherent
uncertainties involved in litigation matters, an adverse outcome in this litigation could
materially adversely affect USCF’s financial condition. |
USL’s Fees and Expenses
This
table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of USL. You should note that you may pay brokerage
commissions on purchases and sales of USL’s shares, which are not reflected in the table. Authorized Participants will pay
applicable creation and redemption fees. See “Creation and Redemption of Shares—Creation and Redemption Transaction
Fee,” page 68.
Annual
Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees | |
| 0.60 | %(1) |
Distribution Fees | |
| NONE | |
Other Fund Expenses | |
| 0.25 | %(2) |
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | |
| 0.85 | % |
| (1) | USL
is contractually obligated to pay USCF a management fee equal to 0.60% per annum, which is based on average daily
total net assets and paid monthly. |
| (2) | Based
on amounts for the year ended December 31, 2022. The individual expense amounts in dollar
terms are shown in the table below. As used in this table, (i) Professional Expenses
include expenses for legal, audit, tax accounting and printing; and (ii) Independent
Director and Officer Expenses include amounts paid to independent directors and for officers’
liability insurance. |
The table
below shows the total dollar amount of fees and expenses paid by USL for the year ended December 31, 2022:
Management Fees | |
$ | 759,048 | |
Brokerage Commissions | |
$ | 16,355 | |
Professional Expenses | |
$ | 140,802 | |
License Fees | |
$ | 18,975 | |
Independent Director and Officer Expenses | |
$ | 46,961 | |
Registration Fees | |
$ | 92,130 | |
| |
| | |
These amounts are based
on USL’s average total net assets, which are the sum of daily total net assets of USL divided by the number of calendar
days in the year. For the year ended December 31, 2022, USL’s average daily total net assets were $126,508,019.
RISK
FACTORS INVOLVED WITH AN INVESTMENT IN USL
You
should consider carefully the risks described below before making an investment decision. You should also refer to the other information
included in this prospectus as well as information found in our periodic reports, which include USL’s financial statements
and the related notes, that are incorporated by reference. See “Incorporation By Reference of Certain Information,”
page 72.
USL’s
investment objective is for the daily percentage changes in the NAV per share to reflect the daily percentage changes of the spot
price of light, sweet crude oil, as measured by the daily percentage changes in the average of the prices of the Benchmark Oil
Futures Contracts, plus interest earned on USL’s collateral holdings, less USL’s expenses. The Benchmark Oil Futures
Contracts are the futures contracts on light, sweet crude oil as traded on the NYMEX that is the near month contract to expire,
and the contracts for the following 11 months, for a total of 12 consecutive months’ contracts, except when the near month
contract is within two weeks of expiration, in which case it will be measured by the futures contract that is the next month contract
to expire and the contracts for the following 11 consecutive months. When calculating the daily movement of the average price
of the 12 contracts, each contract month is equally weighted. USL seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing so that
the average daily percentage change in USL’s NAV for any period of 30 successive valuation days will be within plus/minus
ten percent (10%) of the average daily percentage change in the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts over the same period.
USL’s investment strategy is designed to provide investors with a cost-effective way to invest indirectly in crude oil and
to hedge against movements in the spot price of light, sweet crude oil.
An investment
in USL involves investment risk similar to a direct investment in Oil Futures Contracts and Other Oil-Related Investments, but
it is not a proxy for investing in the oil markets. Investing in USL also involves correlation risk, or the risk that investors
purchasing shares to hedge against movements in the price of crude oil will have an efficient hedge only if the price they pay
for their shares closely correlates with the price of crude oil. In addition to investment risk and correlation risk, an investment
in USL involves tax risks, OTC risks, and other risks.
Investment Risk
The NAV
of USL’s shares relates directly to daily changes the average of the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts
and other assets held by USL and fluctuations in the prices of these assets could materially adversely affect an investment in USL’s
shares. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results; all or substantially all of an investment in USL could be lost.
The net
assets of USL consist primarily of investments in Oil Futures Contracts and, to a lesser extent, in Other Oil-Related Investments.
The NAV of USL’s shares relates directly to the value of these assets (less liabilities, including accrued but unpaid expenses),
which in turn relates to the price of light, sweet crude oil in the marketplace. Crude oil prices depend on local, regional, and
global events or conditions that affect supply and demand for oil.
Economic
conditions impacting crude oil. The demand for crude oil correlates closely with general economic growth rates.
The occurrence of recessions or other periods of low or negative economic growth will typically have a direct adverse impact on
crude oil demand and, therefore, may have an adverse impact on crude oil prices. Other factors that affect general economic conditions
in the world or in a major region, such as changes in population growth rates, periods of civil unrest, military conflicts, war
(such as the current war between Russia and Ukraine), pandemics (e.g., COVID-19), government austerity programs, or currency exchange
rate fluctuations, can also impact the demand for crude oil. Sovereign debt downgrades, defaults, inability to access debt markets
due to credit or legal constraints, liquidity crises, the breakup or restructuring of fiscal, monetary, or political systems such
as the European Union, and other events or conditions (e.g., pandemics such as COVID-19) that impair the functioning of financial
markets and institutions also may adversely impact the demand for crude oil.
Other
crude oil demand-related factors. Other factors that may affect the demand for crude oil and therefore its price,
include technological improvements in energy efficiency; seasonal weather patterns, which affect the demand for crude oil associated
with heating and cooling; increased competitiveness of alternative energy sources that have so far generally not been competitive
with oil without the benefit of government subsidies or mandates; and changes in technology or consumer preferences that alter
fuel choices, such as toward alternative fueled vehicles or electric transportation and broad-based changes in personal income
levels.
Other
crude oil supply-related factors. Crude oil prices also vary depending on a number of factors affecting supply,
including geopolitical risk associated with wars (such as the current war between Russia and Ukraine), terrorist attacks and tensions
between countries, including sanctions imposed as a result of the foregoing that can adversely affect crude oil trade flows by
limiting or disrupting trade between countries or regions. For example, increased supply from the development of new oil supply
sources and technologies to enhance recovery from existing sources tends to reduce crude oil prices to the extent such supply
increases are not offset by commensurate growth in demand. Similarly, increases in industry refining or petrochemical manufacturing
capacity may impact the supply of crude oil. World oil supply levels can also be affected by factors that reduce available supplies,
such as adherence by member countries to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (“OPEC”) production
quotas and the occurrence of geopolitical risk associated with wars, terrorist attacks and tensions between countries, including
sanctions imposed as a result of the foregoing that can adversely affect crude oil trade flows by limiting or disrupting trade
between countries or regions, natural disasters, disruptions in competitors’ operations, or unexpected unavailability of
distribution channels that may disrupt supplies.
Technological
change can also alter the relative costs for companies in the petroleum industry to find, produce, and refine oil and to manufacture
petrochemicals, which in turn, may affect the supply of and demand for oil.
Other
factors impacting the crude oil market. The supply of and demand for crude oil may also be impacted by changes
in interest rates, inflation, and other local or regional market conditions, as well as by the development of alternative energy
sources.
Price
volatility may possibly cause the total loss of your investment.
Futures
contracts have a high degree of price variability and are subject to occasional rapid and substantial changes. Consequently, you
could lose all or substantially all of your investment in USL.
Significant
market volatility has recently occurred in the light, sweet crude oil markets and the oil futures markets. Such volatility is
attributable in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, related supply chain disruptions, war, including the war between Russia and Ukraine,
and continuing disputes among oil-producing countries. These and other events could cause continuing or increased volatility in
the future, which may affect the value, pricing and liquidity of some investments or other assets, including those held by or
invested in by USL and the impact of which could limit USL’s ability to have a substantial portion of its assets invested
in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract. In such a circumstance, USL could, if it determined it appropriate to do so in light of
market conditions and regulatory requirements, invest in other Oil Futures Contracts and/or Other Oil-Related Investments.
Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine, and sanctions brought by the United States and other countries against Russia and others, have caused disruptions
in many business sectors, resulting in significant market disruptions that may lead to increased volatility in the price of certain
commodities, and may lead to volatility in USL’s NAV or share price.
On February
24, 2022, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. The extent and duration of the military action, and resulting sanctions,
and future market or supply disruptions in the region, are impossible to predict, but could be significant and may have a severe
adverse effect on the region.
The United States
and other countries and certain international organizations have imposed broad-ranging economic sanctions on Russia and certain Russian
individuals, banking entities and corporations as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and additional sanctions may be imposed
in the future. Such sanctions (and any future sanctions) will adversely impact the economies of Russia and Ukraine, and certain sectors
of each country’s economy may be particularly affected, including, but not limited to, financial services, energy, metals and mining,
engineering and defense and defense-related materials sectors. Among other things, the extent and duration of the military action, the
responses of countries and political bodies to Russia’s actions, including sanctions, future market or supply disruptions, and
Ukraine’s military response and the potential for wider conflict may increase financial market volatility generally, have severe
adverse effects on regional and global economic markets, and cause volatility in the markets for commodities, including the price
of energy, including energy futures, and the NAV or share price of USL.
A resolution
to the war in Ukraine also could impact the markets for certain commodities and may have collateral impacts, including increased
volatility, and cause disruptions to the availability of certain commodities, commodity and futures prices and the supply chain
globally. The longer-term impact on commodities and futures prices, including the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts,
is difficult to predict and depends on a number of factors that may have a negative impact on USL in the future.
Infectious
disease outbreaks like COVID-19 could negatively affect the valuation and performance of USL’s investments.
An outbreak
of infectious respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 was first detected in China in December 2019
and spread globally. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. COVID-19 resulted
in numerous deaths, travel restrictions, closed international borders, enhanced health screenings at ports of entry and elsewhere,
disruption of and delays in healthcare service preparation and delivery, prolonged quarantines and the imposition of both local
and more widespread “work from home” measures, cancellations, loss of employment, supply chain disruptions, and lower
consumer and institutional demand for goods and services, as well as general concern and uncertainty. The spread of COVID-19 had
a material adverse impact on local economies in the affected jurisdictions and also on the global economy, as cross border commercial
activity and market sentiment were impacted by the outbreak and government and other measures seeking to contain its spread. COVID-19
had a material adverse impact on the crude oil markets and oil futures markets to the extent economic activity and the use of
crude oil continues to be curtailed, which in turn had a significant adverse effect on the prices of Oil Futures Contracts, including
the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts, and Other Oil-Related Contracts.
Infectious
disease outbreaks like COVID-19 may arise in the future and could adversely affect individual issuers and capital markets in ways
that cannot necessarily be foreseen. In addition, actions taken by government and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators
throughout the world in response to such an outbreak, including the potential for significant fiscal and monetary policy changes,
may affect the value, volatility, pricing and liquidity of some investments or other assets, including those held by or invested
in by USL. Public health crises caused by infectious disease outbreaks may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and
economic risks in certain countries or globally and their duration cannot be determined with certainty.
Historical
performance of USL and the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts is not indicative of future performance.
Past performance
of USL or the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts is not necessarily indicative of future results. Therefore, past performance of
USL or the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts should not be relied upon in deciding whether to buy shares of USL.
Correlation Risk
An
investment in USL may provide little or no diversification benefits. Thus, in a declining market, USL may have no gains to offset
losses from other investments, and an investor may suffer losses on an investment in USL while incurring losses with respect to
other asset classes.
Investors
purchasing shares to hedge against movements in the price of crude oil will have an efficient hedge only if the price investors
pay for their shares closely correlates with the price of crude oil. Investing in USL’s shares for hedging purposes includes
the following risks:
| · | The
market price at which the investor buys or sells shares may be significantly less or
more than NAV. |
| · | Daily
percentage changes in NAV may not closely correlate with daily percentage changes in
the average of the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts. |
| · | Daily
percentage changes in the average of the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts
may not closely correlate with daily percentage changes in the price of light, sweet
crude oil. |
Historically,
Oil Futures Contracts and Other Oil-Related Investments have generally been non-correlated to the performance of other asset classes
such as stocks and bonds. Non-correlation means that there is a low statistically valid relationship between the performance of
futures and other commodity interest transactions, on the one hand, and stocks or bonds, on the other hand.
However,
there can be no assurance that such non-correlation will continue during future periods. If, contrary to historic patterns, USL’s
performance were to move in the same general direction as the financial markets, investors will obtain little or no diversification
benefits from an investment in USL’s shares. In such a case, USL may have no gains to offset losses from other investments,
and investors may suffer losses on their investment in USL at the same time they incur losses with respect to other investments.
Variables
such as drought, floods, weather, military conflicts, pandemics (such as COVID-19), embargoes, tariffs and other political events
may have a larger impact on crude oil prices and crude oil-linked instruments, including Oil Futures Contracts and Other Oil-Related
Investments, than on traditional securities. These additional variables may create additional investment risks that subject USL’s
investments to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities.
Non-correlation
should not be confused with negative correlation, where the performance of two asset classes would be opposite of each other.
There is no historical evidence that the spot price of crude oil and prices of other financial assets, such as stocks and bonds,
are negatively correlated. In the absence of negative correlation, USL cannot be expected to be automatically profitable during
unfavorable periods for the stock market, or vice versa.
The
market price at which investors buy or sell shares may be significantly less or more than NAV.
USL’s
NAV per share will change throughout the day as fluctuations occur in the market value of USL’s portfolio investments. The
public trading price at which an investor buys or sells shares during the day from their broker may be different from the NAV
of the shares, which is also the price shares can be redeemed with USL by Authorized Participants in Redemption Baskets. Generally,
price differences may relate primarily to supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares that are
closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of light, sweet crude oil and the Benchmark Oil
Futures Contracts at any point in time. USCF expects that exploitation of certain arbitrage opportunities by Authorized Participants
and their clients will tend to cause the public trading price to track NAV per share closely over time, but there can be no assurance
of that. For example, a shortage of USL’s shares in the market and other factors could cause USL’s shares to trade
at a premium. Investors should be aware that such premiums can be transitory. To the extent an investor purchases shares that
include a premium (e.g., because of a shortage of shares in the market due to the inability of Authorized Participants to purchase
additional shares from USL that could be resold into the market) and the cause of the premium no longer exists causing the premium
to disappear (e.g., because more shares are available for purchase from USL by Authorized Participants that could be resold into
the market) such investor’s return on its investment would be adversely impacted due to the loss of the premium.
The NAV
of USL’s shares may also be influenced by non-concurrent trading hours between the NYSE Arca and the various futures exchanges
on which crude oil is traded. While the shares trade on the NYSE Arca from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the trading hours
for the futures exchanges on which crude oil trades may not necessarily coincide during all of this time. For example, while the
shares trade on the NYSE Arca until 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, liquidity in the global light, sweet crude oil market will be reduced
after the close of the NYMEX at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. As a result, during periods when the NYSE Arca is open and the futures
exchanges on which sweet, light crude oil is traded are closed, trading spreads and the resulting premium or discount on the shares
may widen and, therefore, increase the difference between the price of the shares and the NAV of the shares.
Daily
percentage changes in USL’s NAV may not correlate with daily percentage changes in the average of the prices of the Benchmark
Oil Futures Contracts.
It is possible
that the daily percentage changes in USL’s NAV per share may not closely correlate to daily percentage changes in the average
of the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts. Non-correlation may be attributable to disruptions in the market for light,
sweet crude oil, the imposition of position or accountability limits by regulators or exchanges, or other extraordinary circumstances.
As USL approaches or reaches position limits with respect to the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts and other Oil Futures Contracts
or in view of market conditions, USL may invest in Oil Futures Contracts other than the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts and Other
Oil-Related Investments. In addition, USL is not able to replicate exactly the changes in the price of the Benchmark Futures
Contracts because the total return generated by USL is reduced by expenses and transaction costs, including those incurred in
connection with USL’s trading activities, and increased by interest income from USL’s holdings of Treasuries (defined below).
Tracking the Benchmark Futures Contract requires trading of USL’s portfolio with a view to tracking the Benchmark Futures Contracts
over time and is dependent upon the skills of USCF and its trading principals, among other factors.
Daily
percentage changes in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts may not correlate with daily percentage changes in the
spot price of crude oil.
The correlation
between changes in the average of the prices of the Benchmark Futures Contracts and the spot price of crude oil may at times be
only approximate. The degree of imperfection of correlation depends upon circumstances such as variations in the speculative crude
oil market, supply and demand for crude oil Futures Contracts (including the Benchmark Futures Contract) and Other Crude Oil-Related
Investments, and technical influences in crude oil futures trading.
An
investment in USL is not a proxy for investing in the oil markets, and the daily percentage changes in the prices of the Benchmark
Oil Futures Contracts, or the NAV of USL, may not correlate with daily percentage changes in the spot price of light, sweet crude
oil.
An investment
in USL is not a proxy for investing in the oil markets. To the extent that investors use USL as a means of indirectly investing
in crude oil, there is the risk that the daily changes in the price of USL’s shares on the NYSE Arca, on a percentage basis,
will not closely track the daily changes in the spot price of light, sweet crude oil on a percentage basis. This could happen
if the price of shares traded on the NYSE Arca does not correlate closely with the value of USL’s NAV; the changes in USL’s
NAV do not correlate closely with the changes in the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts; or the changes in the prices
of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts do not closely correlate with the changes in the cash or spot price of crude oil. This
is a risk because if these correlations do not exist, then investors may not be able to use USL as a cost-effective way to indirectly
invest in crude oil or as a hedge against the risk of loss in crude oil-related transactions. The degree of correlation among
USL’s share price, the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts, and the spot price of crude oil depends upon circumstances
such as variations in the speculative oil market, supply of and demand for Oil Futures Contracts (including the Benchmark Oil
Futures Contracts) and Other Oil-Related Investments, and technical influences on trading oil futures contracts. Investors who
are not experienced in investing in oil futures contracts or the factors that influence that market or speculative trading in
the crude oil markets and may not have the background or ready access to the types of information that investors familiar with
these markets may have and, as a result, may be at greater risk of incurring losses from trading in USL shares than such other
investors with such experience and resources.
Natural
forces in the crude oil futures market known as “backwardation” and “contango” may increase USL’s
tracking error and/or negatively impact total return.
The design
of USL’s Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts consists of the near month contract to expire and the 11 following months, which
are changed to the next month contract to expire and the 11 following months during one day each month. In the event of a crude
oil futures market where near month contracts trade at a higher price than next month to expire contracts, a situation described
as “backwardation” in the futures market, then absent the impact of the overall movement in light, sweet crude oil
prices the value of the benchmark contract would tend to rise as it approaches expiration. Conversely, in the event of a crude
oil futures market where near month contracts trade at a lower price than next month contracts, a situation described as “contango”
in the futures market, then absent the impact of the overall movement in crude oil prices the value of the benchmark contract
would tend to decline as it approaches expiration.
While
contango and backwardation are consistently present in trading in the futures markets, such conditions can be exacerbated by market
forces. For example, extraordinary market conditions in the crude oil markets, including “super contango” (a higher
level of contango arising from the overabundance of oil being produced and the limited availability of storage for such excess
supply), occurred in the crude oil futures markets in April 2020 due to over-supply of crude oil in the face of weak demand during
the COVID-19 pandemic when disputes among oil-producing countries regarding limitations on the production of oil also were occurring.
When
compared to the total return of other price indices, such as the spot price of crude oil, the impact of backwardation and contango
may cause the total return of USL’s per share NAV to vary significantly. Moreover, absent the impact of rising or falling
oil prices, a prolonged period of contango could have a significant negative impact on USL’s per share NAV and total return
and investors could lose part or all of their investment.
See “Additional
Information About USL, its Investment Objective and Investments” for a discussion of the potential effects of contango and
backwardation.
Accountability
levels, position limits, and daily price fluctuation limits set by the exchanges have the potential to cause tracking error, which
could cause the average of the prices of shares to substantially vary from the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts.
Designated
contract markets, such as the NYMEX and ICE Futures, have established accountability levels and position limits on the maximum
net long or net short futures contracts in commodity interests that any person or group of persons under common trading control
(other than as a hedge, which an investment by USL is not) may hold, own or control. These levels and position limits apply to
the futures contracts that USL invests in to meet its investment objective. In addition to accountability levels and position
limits, the NYMEX and ICE Futures may also set daily price limits on futures contracts. The daily price fluctuation limit establishes
the maximum amount that the price of a futures contract may vary either up or down from the previous day’s settlement price.
Once the daily price fluctuation limit has been reached in a particular futures contract, no trades may be made at a price beyond
that limit.
The accountability
levels for the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts and other Oil Futures Contracts traded on U.S.-based futures exchanges, such as the NYMEX,
are not a fixed ceiling, but rather a threshold above which the NYMEX may exercise greater scrutiny and control over an investor’s
positions. The current accountability level for investments for any one month in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts is 10,000 contracts.
In addition, the NYMEX imposes an accountability level for all months of 20,000 net futures contracts for light, sweet crude oil. In
addition, ICE Futures maintains accountability levels, position limits and monitoring authority for its futures contracts for light,
sweet crude oil. If USL and the Related Public Funds exceed these accountability levels for investments in the futures contracts for
light, sweet crude oil, the NYMEX and ICE Futures will monitor such exposure and may ask for further information on their activities,
including the total size of all positions, investment and trading strategy, and the extent of liquidity resources of USL and the Related
Public Funds. If deemed necessary by the NYMEX and/or ICE Futures, USL could be ordered to reduce its net futures contracts back to the
accountability level. The foregoing accountability levels and position limits are subject to change.
Position limits
differ from accountability levels in that they represent fixed limits on the maximum number of futures contracts that any person may
hold and cannot be exceeded without express CFTC authority to do so. In addition to accountability levels and position limits that may
apply at any time, the NYMEX and ICE Futures impose position limits on contracts held in the last few days of trading in the near month
contract to expire. It is unlikely that USL will run up against such position limits because of USL’s investment strategy.
USL’s investment strategy is to invest in 12 consecutive months of futures contracts on crude oil as traded on the NYMEX, comprised
of the near month contract to expire and the contracts for the following 11 months. USL “rolls” the near-month futures contracts
in its portfolio when the near month futures contract is within 12 weeks of expiration.
Part
150 of the CFTC’s regulations (the “Position Limits Rule”) establishes federal position limits for 25 core referenced
futures contracts (comprised of agricultural, energy and metals futures contracts), futures and options linked to the core referenced
futures contracts, and swaps that are economically equivalent to the core referenced futures contracts that all market participants
must comply with, with certain exemptions.
The Benchmark
Oil Futures Contracts is subject to position limits under the Position Limits Rule, and USL’s trading does not qualify for
an exemption therefrom. Accordingly, the Position Limits Rule could negatively impact the ability of USL to meet its investment
objective by inhibiting USCF’s ability to effectively invest the proceeds from sales of Creation Baskets of USL in particular
amounts and types of its permitted investments.
All of
these limits may potentially cause a tracking error between the price of USL’s shares and the average of the prices of the
Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts. This may in turn prevent investors from being able to effectively use USL as a way to hedge against
crude oil-related losses or as a way to indirectly invest in crude oil.
USL has
not limited the size of its offering and is committed to utilizing substantially all of its proceeds to purchase Oil Futures Contracts
and Other Oil-Related Investments. If USL encounters accountability levels, position limits, or price fluctuation limits for Oil
Futures Contracts on the NYMEX or ICE Futures, it may then, if permitted under applicable regulatory requirements, purchase Oil
Futures Contracts on other exchanges that trade listed crude oil futures or enter into swaps or other transactions to meet its
investment objective. In addition, if USL exceeds accountability levels on either the NYMEX or ICE Futures, and is required by
such exchanges to reduce its holdings, such reduction could potentially cause a tracking error between the price of USL’s
shares and the average of the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts.
Risk
mitigation measures that could be imposed by USL’s futures commission merchants (“FCMs”) have the potential
to cause tracking error by limiting USL’s investments, including its ability to fully invest in the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contracts and other Futures Contracts, which could cause the price of USL’s shares to substantially vary from the price
of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts.
USL’s
FCMs have discretion to impose limits on the positions that USL may hold in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts. To date, USL’s
FCMs have not imposed any such limits. However, were USL’s FCMs to impose limits, USL’s ability to have a substantial
portion of its assets invested in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts and other Futures Contracts could be severely limited, which
could lead USL to invest in other Futures Contracts or, potentially, Other Oil-Related Investments. USL could also have to more
frequently rebalance and adjust the types of holdings in its portfolio than is currently the case. This could inhibit USL from
pursuing its investment objective in the same manner that it has historically and currently.
In addition,
when offering Creation Baskets for purchase, limitations imposed by exchanges and/or any of USL’s FCMs could limit USL’s
ability to invest the proceeds of the purchases of Creation Baskets in Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts and other Futures Contracts.
If this were the case, USL may invest in other permitted investments, including Other Oil-Related Investments, and may hold larger
amounts of Treasuries, cash and cash equivalents, which could impair USL’s ability to meet its investment objective.
Tax Risk
An
investor’s tax liability may exceed the amount of distributions, if any, on its shares.
Cash
or property will be distributed at the sole discretion of USCF. USCF has not and does not currently intend to make cash or
other distributions with respect to shares. Investors will be required to pay U.S. federal income tax and, in some cases,
state, local, or foreign income tax, on their allocable share of USL’s taxable income, without regard to whether they
receive distributions or the amount or value of any such distributions. Therefore, the tax liability of an investor
with respect to its shares may exceed the amount of cash or value of property (if any) distributed with respect to such
shares.
An
investor’s allocable share of taxable income or loss may differ from its economic income or loss on its shares.
Due
to the application of the assumptions and conventions applied by USL in making allocations for tax purposes and other
factors, an investor’s allocable share of USL’s income, gain, deduction, loss, or credit may
be different than its economic profit or loss from its shares for a taxable year. This difference could be temporary
or permanent and, if permanent, could result in it being taxed on amounts in excess of its economic income.
Items
of income, gain, deduction, loss and credit with respect to shares could be reallocated for U.S. federal income tax purposes,
and USL could be liable for U.S. federal income tax, if the IRS does not accept the assumptions and conventions applied by USL
in allocating those items, with potential adverse consequences for an investor.
The U.S.
federal income tax rules pertaining to partnerships are complex and their application to large, publicly traded partnerships such
as USL is in many respects uncertain. USL applies certain assumptions and conventions in an attempt to comply with the intent
of the applicable rules and to report taxable income, gains, deductions, losses and credits in a manner that properly reflects
shareholders’ economic gains and losses. It is possible that the IRS could successfully challenge the application by USL
of these assumptions and conventions as not fully complying with all aspects of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended
(the “Code”), and applicable Treasury Regulations, which would require USL to reallocate items of income, gain, deduction,
loss or credit in a manner that adversely affects investors. If this occurs, investors may be required to file an amended U.S.
federal income tax return and to pay additional taxes, plus deficiency interest, and may be subject to penalties.
USL may
be liable for U.S. federal income tax on any “imputed underpayment” of tax resulting from an adjustment as a result
of an IRS audit. The amount of the imputed underpayment generally includes increases in allocations of items of income
or gain to any investor and decreases in allocations of items of deduction, loss, or credit to any investor without any offset
for corresponding reductions in allocations of items of income or gain to any investor or increases in allocations of items of
deduction, loss, or credit to any investor. If USL is required to pay any U.S. federal income taxes on any imputed underpayment,
the resulting tax liability would reduce the net assets of USL and would likely have an adverse impact on the value of the shares.
Under certain circumstances, USL may be eligible to make an election to cause the investors to take into account the amount of
any imputed underpayment, including any associated interest and penalties. The ability of a publicly traded partnership
such as USL to elect this treatment is uncertain. If the election is made, USL would be required to provide investors who
owned beneficial interests in the shares in the year to which the adjusted allocations relate with a statement setting forth their
proportionate shares of the adjustment (“Adjusted K-1s”). The investors would be required to take the adjustment into
account in the taxable year in which the Adjusted K-1s are issued.
USL
could be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which may substantially reduce the value of the shares.
USL has
received an opinion of counsel that, under current U.S. federal income tax laws, USL will be treated as a partnership that is
not taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, provided that (i) at least 90 percent of USL’s annual
gross income will be derived from (a) income and gains from commodities (not held as inventory) or futures, forwards, options,
swaps and other notional principal contracts with respect to commodities, and (b) interest income; (ii) USL is organized and operated
in accordance with its governing agreements and applicable law; and (iii) USL does not elect to be taxed as a corporation
for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Although USCF anticipates that USL has satisfied and will continue to satisfy the “qualifying
income” requirement for all taxable years, that result cannot be assured. USL has not requested and will not request any
ruling from the IRS with respect to its classification as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If the IRS were
to successfully assert that USL is taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes in any taxable year, rather than
passing through its income, gains, losses, deductions, and credits proportionately to its shareholders, USL would be subject to U.S. federal
income tax imposed at the applicable corporate flat rate of 21% on its net income for the year. In addition, although USCF does not currently intend to make
distributions with respect to shares, if USL were treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, any distributions
made with respect to USL shares would be taxable to shareholders as dividend income to the extent of USL’s current and accumulated
earnings and profits. Taxation of USL as a corporation could materially reduce the after-tax return on an investment in shares
and could substantially reduce the value of the shares.
USL
is organized and operated as a limited partnership in accordance with the provisions of the LP Agreement and applicable state
law, and therefore, USL has a more complex tax treatment than traditional mutual funds.
USL is organized and operated as a limited partnership in accordance with
the provisions of the LP Agreement and applicable state law and is treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. No
U.S. federal income tax is paid by USL on its income. Instead, USL will furnish shareholders each year with tax information on IRS Schedules
K-1 and/or K-3 (Form 1065) and each U.S. shareholder is required to report on its U.S. federal income tax return its allocable share of
the income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit of USL.
These
amounts must be reported without regard to the amount of cash or value of property the shareholder receives (if any) as a distribution from
USL during the taxable year. A shareholder, therefore, may be allocated income or gain by USL but receive no cash distribution with
which to pay the tax liability resulting from the allocation, or may receive a distribution that is insufficient to pay such
liability.
In addition
to U.S. federal income taxes, shareholders may be subject to other taxes, such as state and local income taxes, unincorporated
business taxes, business franchise taxes and estate, inheritance or intangible taxes that may be imposed by the various jurisdictions
in which USL does business or owns property or where the shareholders reside. Although an analysis of those various taxes is not
presented here, each prospective shareholder should consider their potential impact on its investment in USL. It is each shareholder’s
responsibility to file the appropriate U.S. federal, state, local and foreign tax returns.
If
USL is required to withhold tax with respect to any non-U.S. shareholders, the cost of such withholding may be borne by all shareholders.
Under
certain circumstances, USL may be required to pay withholding tax with respect to allocations to non-U.S. shareholders. Although
the LP Agreement provides that any such withholding will be treated as being distributed to the non-U.S. shareholder, USL may
not be able to cause the economic cost of such withholding to be borne by the non-U.S. shareholder on whose behalf such amounts
were withheld since it does not generally expect to make any distributions. Under such circumstances, the economic cost of the
withholding may be borne by all shareholders, not just the shareholders on whose behalf such amounts were withheld. This could
have a material impact on the value of the shares.
The
impact of changes in U.S. federal income tax laws on USL is uncertain.
In general,
legislative or other actions relating to U.S. federal income taxes could have a negative effect on USL or its investors.
The rules dealing with U.S. federal income taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process
and by the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department. On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
(the “IRA”) into law. At this time, we cannot predict with certainty how the tax provisions of the IRA or
any other proposed or future tax legislation might affect USL, its investors, or USL’s investments. Investors
are urged to consult with their tax advisor with respect to the status of legislative, regulatory or administrative developments
and proposals and their potential effect on an investment in our shares.
OTC Contract Risk
USL
will be subject to credit risk with respect to counterparties to OTC contracts entered into by USL or held by special purpose
or structured vehicles.
USL faces
the risk of non-performance by its counterparties to OTC contracts. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to these
contracts is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of
financial institutions. As a result, there will be greater counterparty credit risk in these transactions. A counterparty may
not be able to meet its obligations to USL, in which case USL could suffer significant losses on these contracts. The two-way
margining requirements imposed by U.S. regulators are intended to mitigate this risk.
If a counterparty
becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, USL may experience significant delays
in obtaining any recovery in a bankruptcy or other reorganization proceeding. USL may obtain only limited recovery or may obtain
no recovery in such circumstances.
USL mitigates
these risks by typically entering into transactions only with major, global financial institutions.
Valuing
OTC derivatives may be less certain than actively traded financial instruments.
In general,
valuing OTC derivatives is less certain than valuing actively traded financial instruments such as exchange traded futures contracts
and securities or cleared swaps because, for OTC derivatives, the price and terms on which such OTC derivatives are entered into
or can be terminated are individually negotiated, and those prices and terms may not reflect the best price or terms available
from other sources. In addition, while market makers and dealers generally quote indicative prices or terms for entering into
or terminating OTC contracts, they typically are not contractually obligated to do so, particularly if they are not a party to
the transaction. As a result, it may be difficult to obtain an independent value for an outstanding OTC derivatives transaction.
USL’s rights under
an OTC contract may be restricted by regulations.
Regulations adopted by global prudential
regulators that are now in effect require certain prudentially regulated entities and certain of their affiliates and subsidiaries
(including swap dealers) to include in their derivatives contracts and certain other financial contracts terms that delay or restrict
the rights of counterparties (such as USL) to terminate such contracts, foreclose upon collateral, exercise other default rights
or restrict transfers of credit support in the event that the prudentially regulated entity and/or its affiliates are subject
to certain types of resolution or insolvency proceedings. Similar regulations and laws have been adopted in non-U.S. jurisdictions
that may apply to USL’s counterparties located in those jurisdictions. It is possible that these new requirements, as well
as potential additional resulted government regulation, could adversely affect USL’s ability to terminate existing derivatives
contracts, exercise default rights, or satisfy obligations owed to it with collateral received under such contracts.
The use of swap agreements
may expose USL to early termination risk, which could result in significant losses to USL.
Swap agreements do not have uniform terms.
A swap counterparty may have the right to close out USL’s position due to the occurrence of certain events (for example,
if a counterparty is unable to hedge its obligations to USL, or if USL defaults on certain terms of the swap agreement, or if
there is a material decline in USL’s NAV on a particular day) and request immediate payment of amounts owed by USL under
the agreement. If the level of USL’s NAV has a dramatic intraday move, the terms of the swap agreement may permit the counterparty
to close out a transaction with USL at a price calculated by the counterparty that, in good faith, represents such counterparty’s
loss. which may not represent fair market value. A swap counterparty may also have the right to close out USL’s position
for no reason, in some cases with same day notice.
Other Risks
USL
is not leveraged, but it could become leveraged if it had insufficient assets to completely meet its margin or collateral requirements
relating to its investments.
USL has
not leveraged, and does not intend to leverage, its assets through borrowings or otherwise, and makes its investments accordingly.
Consistent with the foregoing, USL’s announced investment intentions, and any changes thereto, will take into account the
need for USL to make permitted investments that also allow it to maintain adequate liquidity to meet its margin and collateral
requirements and to avoid, to the extent reasonably possible, USL becoming leveraged. If market conditions require it, USL may
implement risk reduction procedures, which may include changes to USL’s investments, and such changes may occur on short
notice if they occur other than during a roll or rebalance period.
Although
USL does not and will not borrow money or use debt to satisfy its margin or collateral obligations in respect of its investments,
it could become leveraged if USL were to hold insufficient assets that would allow it to meet not only the current, but also future,
margin or collateral obligations required for such investments. Such a circumstance could occur if USL were to hold assets that
have a value of less than zero.
USCF
endeavors to have the value of USL’s Treasuries, cash and cash equivalents, whether held by USL or posted as margin or other
collateral, at all times approximate the aggregate market value of its obligations under its Oil Futures Contracts and Other Oil-Related
Investments. Although permitted to do so under its LP Agreement, USL has not and does not intend to leverage its assets by making
investments beyond its potential ability to meet the potential margin and collateral obligations relating to such investments.
Consistent with this, USL’s investment decisions will take into account the need for USL to make permitted investments that
also allow it to maintain adequate liquidity to meet its margin and collateral requirements and to avoid, to the extent reasonably
possible, USL becoming leveraged, including by its holding of assets that have a high probability of having a value of less than
zero. If market conditions require it, these risk reduction measures may occur on short notice.
USL
may temporarily limit the offering of Creation Baskets.
USL may
determine to limit the issuance of its shares through the offering of Creation Baskets to its Authorized Participants in order
to allow it to reinvest the proceeds from sales of its Creation Baskets in currently permitted assets in a manner that meets its
investment objective. USL will announce to the market through the filing of a Current Report on Form 8-K if it intends to limit
the offering of Creation Baskets at any time. In such case, orders for Creation Baskets will be considered for acceptance in the
order they are received by USL and USL would continue to accept requests for redemption of its shares from Authorized Participants
through Redemption Baskets during the period of the limited offering of Creation Baskets.
Certain
of USL’s investments could be illiquid, which could cause large losses to investors at any time or from time to time.
Futures
positions cannot always be liquidated at the desired price. It is difficult to execute a trade at a specific price when there
is a relatively small volume of buy and sell orders in a market. A market disruption, such as war or a foreign government taking
political actions that disrupt the market for its currency, its crude oil production or exports, or another major export, can
also make it difficult to liquidate a position. Because both Oil Futures Contracts and Other Oil-Related Investments may be illiquid,
USL’s Oil Interests may be more difficult to liquidate at favorable prices in periods of illiquid markets and losses may
be incurred during the period in which positions are being liquidated. The large size of the positions that USL may acquire increases
the risk of illiquidity both by making its positions more difficult to liquidate and by potentially increasing losses while trying
to do so.
OTC contracts
that are not subject to clearing may be even less marketable than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange,
do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability
of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, they are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. These
conditions make such contracts less liquid than standardized futures contracts traded on a commodities exchange and could adversely
impact USL’s ability to realize the full value of such contracts. In addition, even if collateral is used to reduce counterparty
credit risk, sudden changes in the value of OTC transactions may leave a party open to financial risk due to a counterparty default
since the collateral held may not cover a party’s exposure on the transaction in such situations.
USL
is not actively managed and its investment objective is to track the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts so that the average daily
percentage change in USL’s NAV for any period of 30 successive valuation days will be within plus/minus ten percent (10%)
of the average daily percentage change in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts over the same period.
USL is
not actively managed by conventional methods. Accordingly, if USL’s investments in Oil Interests are declining in value,
in the ordinary course, USL will not close out such positions except in connection with paying the proceeds to an Authorized Participant
upon the redemption of a basket or closing out its positions in Oil Futures Contracts and other permitted investments (i) in connection
with the monthly change in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts; (ii) when USL otherwise determines it would be appropriate
to do so, e.g., due to regulatory requirements or risk mitigation measures; or (iii) to avoid USL becoming leveraged,
and it reinvests the proceeds in new Oil Futures Contracts or Other Oil-Related Investments to the extent possible. USCF will
seek to cause the NAV of USL’s shares to track the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts during periods in which its price is
flat or declining as well as when the price is rising.
USL’s
ability to invest in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract could be limited as a result of any or all of the following: evolving
market conditions, a change in regulatory accountability levels and position limits imposed on USL with respect to its investment
in Oil Futures Contracts, additional or different risk mitigation measures taken by market participants, generally, including
USL, with respect to USL acquiring additional Oil Futures Contracts, or USL selling additional shares.
USL
may not meet the listing standards of NYSE Arca, which would adversely impact an investor’s ability to sell shares.
NYSE
Arca may suspend USL’s shares from trading on the exchange with or without prior notice to USL, upon failure of USL to comply
with the NYSE’s listing requirements, or when in its sole discretion, the NYSE Arca determines that such suspension of dealings
is in the public interest or otherwise warranted. There can be no assurance that the requirements necessary to maintain the listing
of USL’s shares will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. If USL were unable to meet the NYSE’s listing standards
and were to become delisted, an investor’s ability to sell its shares would be adversely impacted.
The
NYSE Arca may halt trading in USL’s shares, which would adversely impact an investor’s ability to sell shares.
Trading
in shares may be halted due to market conditions or, in light of NYSE Arca rules and procedures, for reasons that, in the view
of the NYSE Arca, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary
market volatility pursuant to “circuit breaker” rules that require trading to be halted for a specified period based
on a specified market decline.
The
liquidity of USL’s shares may also be affected by the withdrawal from participation of Authorized Participants, which could
adversely affect the market price of the shares.
In the
event that one or more Authorized Participants which have substantial interests in the shares withdraw from participation, the
liquidity of the shares will likely decrease, which could adversely affect the market price of the shares and result in investors
incurring a loss on their investment.
Shareholders
that are not Authorized Participants may only purchase or sell their shares in secondary trading markets, and the conditions associated
with trading in secondary markets may adversely affect investors’ investment in the shares.
Only
Authorized Participants may directly purchase shares from, or redeem shares with, USL through Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets,
respectively. All other investors that desire to purchase or sell shares must do so through the NYSE Arca or in other markets,
if any, in which the shares may be traded. Shares may trade at a premium or discount relative to NAV per share.
The
lack of an active trading market for USL’s shares may result in losses on an investor’s investment in USL at the time
the investor sells the shares.
Although
USL’s shares are listed and traded on the NYSE Arca, there can be no guarantee that an active trading market for the shares
will be maintained. If an investor needs to sell shares at a time when no active trading market for them exists, the price the
investor receives upon sale of the shares, assuming they were able to be sold, likely would be lower than if an active market
existed.
Limited
partners and shareholders do not participate in the management of USL and do not control USCF, so they do not have any influence
over basic matters that affect USL.
The limited
partners and shareholders take no part in the management or control, and have a minimal voice in USL’s operations or business.
Limited partners and shareholders must therefore rely upon the duties and judgment of USCF to manage USL’s affairs. Limited
partners and shareholders have no right to elect USCF on an annual or any other continuing basis. If USCF voluntarily withdraws,
however, the holders of a majority of USL’s outstanding shares (excluding for purposes of such determination shares owned,
if any, by the withdrawing general partner and its affiliates) may elect its successor. USCF may not be removed as general partner
except upon approval by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3 percent of USL’s outstanding shares (excluding
shares, if any, owned by USCF and its affiliates), subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions set forth in the LP Agreement.
Limited
partners may have limited liability in certain circumstances, including potentially having liability for the return of wrongful
distributions.
Under
Delaware law, a limited partner might be held liable for USL’s obligations as if it were a general partner if the limited
partner participates in the control of the partnership’s business and the persons who transact business with the partnership
think the limited partner is the general partner.
A limited
partner will not be liable for assessments in addition to its initial capital investment in any of USL’s shares. However,
a limited partner may be required to repay to USL any amounts wrongfully returned or distributed to it under some circumstances.
Under Delaware law, USL may not make a distribution to limited partners if the distribution causes USL’s liabilities (other
than liabilities to partners on account of their partnership interests and nonrecourse liabilities) to exceed the fair value of
USL’s assets. Delaware law provides that a limited partner who receives such a distribution and knew at the time of the
distribution that the distribution violated the law will be liable to the limited partnership for the amount of the distribution
for three years from the date of the distribution.
USCF’s
LLC Agreement provides limited authority to the Non-Management Directors, and any Director of USCF may be removed by USCF’s
parent company, which is wholly owned by The Marygold Companies, Inc., a controlled public company where the majority of shares
are owned by Nicholas D. Gerber along with certain of his other family members and certain other shareholders.
USCF’s
Board of Directors currently consists of four Management Directors, who are also executive officers or employees of USCF, and
three Non-Management Directors, who are considered independent for purposes of applicable NYSE Arca and SEC rules. Under USCF’s
LLC Agreement, the Non-Management Directors have only such authority as the Management Directors expressly confer upon them, which
means that the Non-Management Directors may have less authority to control the actions of the Management Directors than is typically
the case with the independent members of a company’s Board of Directors. In addition, any Director may be removed by written
consent of USCF Investments, Inc. (“USCF Investments”), formerly Wainwright Holdings, Inc., which is the sole member
of USCF. The sole shareholder of USCF Investments is The Marygold Companies, Inc., formerly Concierge Technologies, Inc. (“Marygold”),
a company publicly traded under the ticker symbol “MGLD.” Mr. Nicholas D. Gerber, along with certain of his family
members and certain other shareholders, owns the majority of the shares in Marygold, which is the sole shareholder of USCF Investments,
the sole member of USCF. Accordingly, although USCF is governed by the USCF Board of Directors, which consists of both Management
Directors and Non-Management Directors, pursuant to the LLC Agreement, it is possible for Mr. Gerber to exercise his indirect
control of USCF Investments to effect the removal of any Director (including the Non-Management Directors which comprise the Audit
Committee) and to replace that Director with another Director. Having control in one person could have a negative impact on USCF
and USL, including their regulatory obligations.
There
is a risk that USL will not earn trading gains sufficient to compensate for the fees and expenses that it must pay and as such
USL may not earn any profit.
USL pays
brokerage charges of approximately 0.01% of average total net assets based on brokerage fees of $3.50 per buy or sell, management
fees of 0.60% of NAV on its average net assets, and OTC spreads and extraordinary expenses (e.g., subsequent offering expenses,
other expenses not in the ordinary course of business, including the indemnification of any person against liabilities and obligations
to the extent permitted by law and required under the LP Agreement and under agreements entered into by USCF on USL’s behalf
and the bringing and defending of actions at law or in equity and otherwise engaging in the conduct of litigation and the incurring
of legal expenses and the settlement of claims and litigation) that cannot be quantified.
These
fees and expenses must be paid in all cases regardless of whether USL’s activities are profitable. Accordingly, USL must
earn trading gains sufficient to compensate for these fees and expenses before it can earn any profit.
USL
is subject to extensive regulatory reporting and compliance.
USL is
subject to a comprehensive scheme of regulation under the federal commodities and securities laws. USL could be subject to sanctions
for a failure to comply with those requirements, which could adversely affect its financial performance (in the case of financial
penalties) or ability to pursue its investment objective (in the case of a limitation on its ability to trade).
Because
USL’s shares are publicly traded, USL is subject to certain rules and regulations of federal, state and financial market
exchange entities charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded.
These entities include the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”), the SEC, the CFTC, the NFA, and
NYSE Arca and these authorities have continued to develop additional regulations or interpretations of existing regulations. USL’s
ongoing efforts to comply with these regulations and interpretations have resulted in, and are likely to continue resulting in,
a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance related activities.
USL is
responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. USL’s internal control
system is designed to provide reasonable assurance to its management regarding the preparation and fair presentation of published
financial statements. All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those
systems determined to be effective may provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation.
Regulatory
changes or actions, including the implementation of new legislation, is impossible to predict but may significantly and adversely
affect USL.
The futures
markets are subject to comprehensive statutes, regulations, and margin requirements. In addition, the CFTC and futures exchanges
are authorized to take extraordinary actions in the event of a market emergency, including, for example, the retroactive implementation
of speculative position limits or higher margin requirements, the establishment of daily price limits and the suspension of trading.
Regulation of commodity interest transactions in the United States is a rapidly changing area of law and is subject to ongoing
modification by governmental and judicial action. Considerable regulatory attention has been focused on non-traditional investment
pools that are publicly distributed in the United States. In addition, the SEC, CFTC and the exchanges are authorized to take
extraordinary actions in the event of a market emergency, including, for example, the retroactive implementation of speculative
position limits or higher margin requirements, the establishment of daily price limits and the suspension of trading. Further,
various national governments outside of the United States have expressed concern regarding the disruptive effects of speculative
trading in the energy markets and the need to regulate the derivatives markets in general. The effect of any future regulatory
change on USL is impossible to predict, but it could be substantial and adverse.
USL
is not a registered investment company so shareholders do not have the protections of the 1940 Act.
USL is
not an investment company subject to the 1940 Act. Accordingly, investors do not have the protections afforded by that statute,
which, for example, requires investment companies to have a majority of disinterested directors and regulates the relationship
between the investment company and its investment manager.
Trading
in international markets could expose USL to credit and regulatory risk.
USL invests
primarily in Oil Futures Contracts, a significant portion of which are traded on United States exchanges, including the NYMEX.
However, a portion of USL’s trades may take place on markets and exchanges outside the United States. Trading on such non-U.S.
markets or exchanges presents risks because they are not subject to the same degree of regulation as their U.S. counterparts,
including potentially different or diminished investor protections. In trading contracts denominated in currencies other than
U.S. dollars, USL is subject to the risk of adverse exchange-rate movements between the dollar and the functional currencies of
such contracts. Additionally, trading on non-U.S. exchanges is subject to the risks presented by exchange controls, expropriation,
increased tax burdens and exposure to local economic declines and political instability. An adverse development with respect to
any of these variables could reduce the profit or increase the loss earned on trades in the affected international markets.
USL
and USCF may have conflicts of interest, which may permit them to favor their own interests to the detriment of shareholders.
USL is
subject to actual and potential inherent conflicts involving USCF, various commodity futures brokers and Authorized Participants.
USCF’s officers, directors and employees do not devote their time exclusively to USL and also are directors, officers or
employees of other entities that may compete with USL for their services. They could have a conflict between their responsibilities
to USL and to those other entities. As a result of these and other relationships, parties involved with USL have a financial incentive
to act in a manner other than in the best interests of USL and the shareholders. USCF has not established any formal procedure
to resolve conflicts of interest. Consequently, investors are dependent on the good faith of the respective parties subject to
such conflicts of interest to resolve them equitably. Although USCF attempts to monitor these conflicts, it is extremely difficult,
if not impossible, for USCF to ensure that these conflicts do not, in fact, result in adverse consequences to the shareholders.
USCF
serves as the general partner or sponsor to each of USL and the Related Public Funds. USCF may have a conflict to the extent that
its trading decisions for USL may be influenced by the effect they would have on the other funds it manages. By way of example,
if, as a result of reaching position limits imposed by the NYMEX, USL purchased Oil Futures Contracts, this decision could impact
USL’s ability to purchase additional Oil Futures Contracts if the number of contracts held by funds managed by USCF reached
the maximum allowed by the NYMEX. Similar situations could adversely affect the ability of other Related Public Funds to track
their benchmark futures contract(s).
USL may
also be subject to certain conflicts with respect to its FCMs, including, but not limited to, conflicts that result from the FCM
receiving greater amounts of compensation from other clients, or purchasing opposite or competing positions on behalf of third-party
accounts traded through the FCMs. In addition, USCF’s principals, officers, directors or employees may trade futures and
related contracts for their own account. A conflict of interest may exist if their trades are in the same markets and at the same
time as USL trades using the clearing broker to be used by USL. A potential conflict also may occur if USCF’s principals,
officers, directors or employees trade their accounts more aggressively or take positions in their accounts which are opposite,
or ahead of, the positions taken by USL.
USL
could terminate at any time and cause the liquidation and potential loss of an investor’s investment and could upset the
overall maturity and timing of an investor’s investment portfolio.
USL may
terminate at any time, regardless of whether USL has incurred losses, subject to the terms of the LP Agreement. In particular,
unforeseen circumstances, including, but not limited to, (i) market conditions, regulatory requirements, risk mitigation measures
taken by USL or third parties or otherwise that would lead USL to determine that it could no longer foreseeably meet its investment
objective or that USL’s aggregate net assets in relation to its operating expenses or its margin or collateral requirements
make the continued operation of USL unreasonable or imprudent, or (ii) adjudication of incompetence, bankruptcy, dissolution,
withdrawal, or removal of USCF as the general partner of USL, could cause USL to terminate unless a majority interest of the limited
partners within 90 days of the event elects to continue the partnership and appoints a successor general partner, or the affirmative
vote of a majority in interest of the limited partners subject to certain conditions. However, no level of losses will require
USCF to terminate USL. USL’s termination would cause the liquidation and potential loss of an investor’s investment.
Termination could also negatively affect the overall maturity and timing of an investor’s investment portfolio.
USL
does not expect to make cash distributions.
USL has
not previously made any cash distributions and intends to reinvest any realized gains in additional Oil Interests rather than
distributing cash to limited partners, or other shareholders. Therefore, unlike mutual funds, commodity pools or other investment
pools that actively manage their investments in an attempt to realize income and gains from their investing activities and distribute
such income and gains to their investors, USL generally does not expect to distribute cash to limited partners. An investor should
not invest in USL if the investor will need cash distributions from USL to pay taxes on its share of income and gains of USL,
if any, or for any other reason. Nonetheless, although USL does not intend to make cash distributions, the income earned from
its investments held directly or posted as margin may reach levels that merit distribution, e.g., at levels where such
income is not necessary to support its underlying investments in Oil Interests and investors adversely react to being taxed on
such income without receiving distributions that could be used to pay such tax. If this income becomes significant then cash distributions
may be made.
An
unanticipated number of Redemption Basket requests during a short period of time could have an adverse effect on USL’s NAV.
If a
substantial number of requests for redemption of Redemption Baskets are received by USL during a relatively short period of time,
USL may not be able to satisfy the requests from USL’s assets not committed to trading. As a consequence, it could be necessary
to liquidate positions in USL’s trading positions before the time that the trading strategies would otherwise dictate liquidation.
The
suspension in the ability of Authorized Participants to purchase Creation Baskets could cause USL’s NAV to differ materially
from its trading price.
In the
event that there was a suspension in the ability of Authorized Participants to purchase additional Creation Baskets, Authorized
Participants and other groups that make a market in shares of USL would likely still continue to actively trade the shares. However,
in such a situation, Authorized Participants and other market makers may seek to adjust the market they make in the shares. Specifically,
such market participants may increase the spread between the prices that they quote for offers to buy and sell shares to allow
them to adjust to the potential uncertainty as to when they might be able to purchase additional Creation Baskets of shares. In
addition, Authorized Participants may be less willing to offer to quote offers to buy or sell shares in large numbers. The potential
impact of either wider spreads between bid and offer prices, or reduced number of shares on which quotes may be available, could
increase the trading costs to investors in USL compared to the quotes and the number of shares on which bids and offers are made
if the Authorized Participants still were able to freely create new baskets of shares. In addition, there could be a significant
variation between the market price at which shares are traded and the shares’ NAV, which is also the price shares can be
redeemed with USL by Authorized Participants in Redemption Baskets. The foregoing could also create significant deviations from
USL’s investment objective. Any potential impact to the market for shares of USL that could occur from the Authorized Participant’s
inability to create new baskets would likely not extend beyond the time when additional shares would be registered and available
for distribution.
USL
may determine that, to allow it to reinvest the proceeds from sales of its Creation Baskets in currently permitted assets in a
manner that meets its investment objective, it may limit its offers of Creation Baskets.
USL may
determine to limit the issuance of its shares through the offering of Creation Baskets to its Authorized Participants. As a result
of certain circumstances described herein, including (1) the need to comply with regulatory requirements (including, but not limited
to, exchange accountability levels and position limits); (2) market conditions (including but not limited to those allowing USL
to obtain greater liquidity or to execute transactions with more favorable pricing); and (3) risk mitigation measures taken by
USL’s current and other FCMs that limit USL and other market participants from investing in particular crude oil futures
contracts, USL’s management can determine that it will limit the issuance of shares and the offerings of Creation Baskets
because it is unable to invest the proceeds from such offerings in investments that would permit it to reasonably meet its investment
objective.
If such
a determination is made, the same consequences associated with a suspension of the offering of Creation Baskets, as described
in the foregoing risk factor, “The suspension in the ability of Authorized Participants to purchase Creation Baskets
could cause USL’S NAV to differ materially from its trading price.”
In
a rising rate environment, USL may not be able to fully invest at prevailing rates until any current investments in Treasury Bills
mature in order to avoid selling those investments at a loss.
When interest
rates rise, the value of fixed income securities typically falls. In a rising interest rate environment, USL may not be able to
fully invest at prevailing rates until any current investments in Treasury Bills mature in order to avoid selling those investments
at a loss. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term investments and higher for longer term investments. The risk
to USL of rising interest rates may be greater in the future due to the end of a long period of historically low rates, the effect
of potential monetary policy initiatives, including actions taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other foreign equivalents to
curb inflation, and resulting market reactions to those initiatives. When interest rates fall, USL may be required to reinvest
the proceeds from the sale, redemption or early prepayment of a Treasury Bill or money market security at a lower interest rate.
USL
may potentially lose money by investing in government money market funds.
USL invests
in government money market funds. Although such government money market funds seek to preserve the value of an investment at $1.00
per share, there is no guarantee that they will be able to do so and USL may lose money by investing in a government money market
fund. An investment in a government money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(the “FDIC”), or any other government agency. The share price of a government money market fund can fall below
the $1.00 share price. USL cannot rely on or expect a government money market fund’s adviser or its affiliates to enter
into support agreements or take other actions to maintain the government money market fund’s $1.00 share price. The credit
quality of a government money market fund’s holdings can change rapidly in certain markets, and the default of a single
holding could have an adverse impact on the government money market fund’s share price. Due to fluctuations in interest
rates, the market value of securities held by a government money market fund may vary. A government money market fund’s
share price can also be negatively affected during periods of high redemption pressures and/or illiquid markets.
The
failure or bankruptcy of a clearing broker could result in a substantial loss of USL’s assets and could impair USL in its
ability to execute trades.
The CEA
and CFTC regulations impose several requirements on FCMs and clearing houses that are designed to protect customers, including
mandating the implementation of risk management programs, internal monitoring and controls, capital and liquidity standards, customer
disclosures, and auditing and examination programs. In particular, the CEA and CFTC regulations require FCMs and clearing houses
to segregate all funds received from customers from proprietary assets. There can be no assurance that the requirements imposed
by the CEA and CFTC regulations will prevent losses to, or not materially adversely affect, USL or its investors.
In particular,
in the event of an FCM’s or clearing house’s bankruptcy, USL could be limited to recovering either a pro rata share
of all available funds segregated on behalf of the FCM’s combined customer accounts or USL may not recover any assets at
all. USL may also incur a loss of any unrealized profits on its open and closed positions. This is because if such a bankruptcy
were to occur, USL would be afforded the protections granted to customers of an FCM, and participants to transactions cleared
through a clearing house, under the United States Bankruptcy Code and applicable CFTC regulations. Such provisions generally provide
for a pro rata distribution to customers of customer property held by the bankrupt FCM or an Exchange’s clearing house if
the customer property held by the FCM or the Exchange’s clearing house is insufficient to satisfy all customer claims.
Bankruptcy
of a clearing FCM can be caused by, among other things, the default of one of the FCM’s customers. In this event, the Exchange’s
clearing house is permitted to use the entire amount of margin posted by USL (as well as margin posted by other customers of the
FCM) to cover the amounts owed by the bankrupt FCM. Consequently, USL could be unable to recover amounts due to it on its futures
positions, including assets posted as margin, and could sustain substantial losses.
Notwithstanding
that USL could sustain losses upon the failure or bankruptcy of its FCM, the majority of USL’s assets are held in Treasuries,
cash and/or cash equivalents with USL’s Custodian and would not be impacted by the bankruptcy of an FCM.
The
failure or bankruptcy of USL’s Custodian could result in a substantial loss of USL’s assets.
The majority
of USL’s assets are held in Treasuries, cash and/or cash equivalents with the Custodian. The insolvency of the Custodian
could result in a complete loss of USL’s assets held by that Custodian, which, at any given time, would likely comprise
a substantial portion of USL’s total assets.
Due
to the increased use of technologies, intentional and unintentional cyber-attacks pose operational and information security risks.
With
the increased use of technologies such as the internet and the dependence on computer systems to perform necessary business functions,
USL is susceptible to operational and information security risks. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks
or unintentional events such as a cyber-attack against USL, a natural catastrophe, an industrial accident, failure of USL’s
disaster recovery systems, or consequential employee error. Cyber-attacks include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized
access to digital systems for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational
disruption. Cyber-attacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing
denial-of-service attacks on websites. Cyber security failures or breaches of USL’s clearing broker or third party service
provider (including, but not limited to, index providers, the administrator and transfer agent, the custodian), have the ability
to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in financial losses, the inability of USL shareholders
to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement
or other compensation costs, and/or additional compliance costs. Adverse effects can become particularly acute if those events
affect USL’s electronic data processing, transmission, storage, and retrieval systems, or impact the availability, integrity,
or confidentiality of our data. In addition, a service provider that has experienced a cyber-security incident may divert resources
normally devoted to servicing USL to addressing the incident, which would be likely to have an adverse effect on USL’s operations.
Cyber-attacks may also cause disruptions to the futures exchanges and clearinghouses through which USL invests in futures contracts,
which could result in disruptions to USL’s ability to pursue its investment objective, resulting in financial losses to
USL and its shareholders.
In addition,
substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent any cyber incidents in the future. USL and its shareholders could be negatively
impacted as a result. While USCF and the Related Public Funds, including USL, have established business continuity plans, there
are inherent limitations in such plans, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified or that new risks
will emerge before countervailing measures can be implemented. Furthermore, USL cannot control cybersecurity plans and systems
of its service providers, market makers or Authorized Participants.
USL’s
investment returns could be negatively affected by climate change and greenhouse gas restrictions.
Driven
by concern over the risks of climate change, a number of countries have adopted, or are considering the adoption of, regulatory
frameworks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or production and use of oil and gas. These include adoption of cap and trade regimes,
carbon taxes, trade tariffs, minimum renewable usage requirements, restrictive permitting, increased efficiency standards, and
incentives or mandates for renewable energy. Political and other actors and their agents increasingly seek to advance climate
change objectives indirectly, such as by seeking to reduce the availability of or increase the cost for, financial and investment
in the oil and gas sector and taking actions intended to promote changes in business strategy for oil and gas companies. Many
governments are also providing tax advantages and other subsidies to support transitioning to alternative energy sources or mandating
the use of specific fuels other than oil or natural gas. Depending on how policies are formulated and applied, they could have
the potential to negatively affect USL’s investment returns and make oil and natural gas products more expensive or less
competitive.
USCF
is the subject of class action, derivative, and other litigation. In light of the inherent uncertainties involved in litigation
matters, an adverse outcome in this litigation could materially adversely affect USCF’s financial condition.
USCF
and USCF’s directors and certain of its officers are currently subject to litigation. Estimating an amount or range of possible
losses resulting from litigation proceedings to USCF is inherently difficult and requires an extensive degree of judgment, particularly
where the matters involve indeterminate claims for monetary damages and are subject to appeal. In addition, because most legal
proceedings are resolved over extended periods of time, potential losses are subject to change due to, among other things, new
developments, changes in legal strategy, the outcome of intermediate procedural and substantive rulings and other parties’
settlement posture and their evaluation of the strength or weakness of their case against USCF. For these reasons, we are currently
unable to predict the ultimate timing or outcome of, or reasonably estimate the possible losses or a range of possible losses
resulting therefrom. In light of the inherent uncertainties involved in such matters, an adverse outcome in this litigation could
materially adversely affect USCF’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flows in any particular reporting
period. In addition, litigation could result in substantial costs and divert USCF’s management’s attention and resources
from conducting USCF’s operations, including the management of USL and the Related Public Funds.
ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION ABOUT USL, ITS INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE AND INVESTMENTS
USL is
a Delaware limited partnership organized on June 27, 2007. It operates pursuant to the terms of the Third Amended and Restated
Agreement of Limited Partnership dated as of December 15, 2017 (as amended from time to time, the “LP Agreement”),
which grants full management control of USL to USCF. USL maintains its main business office at 1850 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Suite
640, Walnut Creek, California 94596.
The net
assets of USL consist primarily of investments in Oil Futures Contracts and, to a lesser extent, in order to comply with regulatory
requirements, risk mitigation measures, liquidity requirements, or in view of market conditions, Other Oil-Related Investments.
Market conditions that USCF currently anticipates could cause USL to invest in Other Oil-Related Investments include those allowing
USL to obtain greater liquidity or to execute transactions with more favorable pricing.
USL invests
substantially the entire amount of its assets in Oil Futures Contracts while supporting such investments by holding the amounts
of its margin, collateral and other requirements relating to these obligations in short-term obligations of the United States
of two years or less (“Treasuries”), cash and cash equivalents. The daily holdings of USL are available on USL’s
website at www.uscfinvestments.com.
USL invests
in Oil Interests to the fullest extent possible without being leveraged or unable to satisfy its current or potential margin or
collateral obligations with respect to its investments in Oil Interests. In pursuing this objective, the primary focus of USCF
is the investment in Oil Futures Contracts and the management of USL’s investments in Treasuries, cash and/or cash equivalents
for margining purposes and as collateral.
USL seeks
to invest in a combination of Oil Interests such that the average daily changes in its NAV, measured in percentage terms, will
closely track the average daily changes in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts, also measured in percentage terms.
As a specific benchmark, USCF endeavors to place USL’s trades in Oil Interests and otherwise manage USL’s investments
so that “A” will be within plus/ minus ten percent (10%) of “B”, where:
| · | A
is the average daily percentage change in USL’s per share NAV for any period of
30 successive valuation days, i.e., any NYSE Arca trading day as of which
USL calculates its per share NAV; and |
| · | B
is the average daily percentage change in the average of the prices of the Benchmark
Oil Futures Contracts over the same period. |
USCF
believes that market arbitrage opportunities will cause the daily changes in USL’s share price on the NYSE Arca on a percentage
basis to closely track the daily changes in USL’s per share NAV. USCF further believes that the daily changes in USL’s
NAV in percentage terms will closely track the daily changes in percentage terms in the average of the prices of the Benchmark
Oil Futures Contracts, less USL’s expenses.
The following
two charts demonstrate the correlation between the changes in USL’s NAV and the changes in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts.
The first chart below shows the daily movement of USL’s per share NAV versus the daily movement of the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contracts for the 30 valuation day period ended December 31, 2022, the last trading day in December. The second chart below shows
the monthly total returns of USL as compared to the monthly value of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts for the five years
ended December 31, 2022.
*PAST
PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS
*PAST
PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS
USCF
employs a “neutral” investment strategy in order to track changes in the average prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contracts regardless of whether these prices go up or go down. USL’s “neutral” investment strategy is designed
to permit investors generally to purchase and sell USL’s shares for the purpose of investing indirectly in crude oil in
a cost-effective manner, and/or to permit participants in the oil or other industries to hedge the risk of losses in their crude
oil-related transactions. Accordingly, depending on the investment objective of an individual investor, the risks generally associated
with investing in crude oil and/or the risks involved in hedging may exist. In addition, an investment in USL involves the risk
that the daily changes in the price of USL’s shares, in percentage terms, will not accurately track the daily changes in
the average prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts, in percentage terms, and that daily changes in the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contracts, in percentage terms, will not closely correlate with daily changes in the spot prices of light, sweet crude oil, in
percentage terms.
An alternative
tracking measurement of the return performance of USL versus the return of its Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts can be calculated
by comparing the actual average of the prices of its return of USL, measured by changes in its per share NAV, versus the expected
changes in its per share NAV under the assumption that USL’s returns had been exactly the same as the daily changes in its
Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts.
For the
year ended December 31, 2022, the actual total return of USL as measured by changes in its per share NAV was 27.47%. This is based
on an initial per share NAV of $27.81 as of December 31, 2021 and an ending per share NAV as of December 31, 2022 of $35.45. During
this time period, USL made no distributions to its shareholders. However, if USL’s daily changes in its per share NAV had
instead exactly tracked the changes in the daily total return of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts, USL would have had an estimated
per share NAV of $35.24 as of December 31, 2022, for a total return over the relevant time period of 26.72%. The difference between
the actual per share NAV total return of USL of 27.47% and the expected total return based on the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts
of 26.72% was a difference over the time period of 0.75% which is to say that USL’s actual total return outperformed its
benchmark by that percentage. USL incurs expenses primarily composed of the management fee, brokerage commissions for the buying
and selling of futures contracts, and other expenses. The impact of these expenses, offset by interest and dividend income, and
net of positive or negative execution, tends to cause daily changes in the per share NAV of USL to track slightly lower or higher
than daily changes in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts.
Impact of Contango and Backwardation
on Total Returns
Several
factors determine the total return from investing in futures contracts. One factor arises from “rolling” futures contracts
that will expire at the end of the current month (the “near” or “front” month contract) forward each month
prior to expiration. For a strategy that entails holding the near month contract, the price relationship between that futures
contract and the next month futures contract will impact returns. For example, if the price of the near month futures contract
is higher than the next futures month contract (a situation referred to as “backwardation”), then absent any other
change, the price of a next month futures contract tends to rise in value as it becomes the near month futures contract and approaches
expiration. Conversely, if the price of a near month futures contract is lower than the next month futures contract (a situation
referred to as “contango”), then absent any other change, the price of a next month futures contract tends to decline
in value as it becomes the near month futures contract and approaches expiration.
As an
example, assume that the price of crude oil for immediate delivery, is $50 per barrel, and the value of a position in the near
month futures contract is also $50. Over time, the price of crude oil will fluctuate based on a number of market factors, including
demand for oil relative to supply. The value of the near month futures contract will likewise fluctuate in reaction to a number
of market factors. If an investor seeks to maintain a position in a near month futures contract and not take delivery of physical
barrels of crude oil, the investor must sell the current near month futures contract as it approaches expiration and invest in
the next month futures contract. In order to continue holding a position in the current near month futures contract, this “roll”
forward of the futures contract must be executed every month.
Contango
and backwardation are natural market forces that have impacted the total return on an investment in USL’s shares during
the past year relative to a hypothetical direct investment in crude oil. In the future, it is likely that the relationship between
the market price of USL’s shares and changes in the spot prices of light, sweet crude oil will continue to be impacted by
contango and backwardation. It is important to note that this comparison ignores the potential costs associated with physically
owning and storing crude oil, which could be substantial.
If the
futures market is in backwardation, e.g., when the price of the near month futures contract is higher than the price of the next
month futures contract, the investor would buy a next month futures contract for a lower price than the current near month futures
contract. Assuming the price of the next month futures contract was $49 per barrel, or 2% cheaper than the $50 near month futures
contract, then, hypothetically, and assuming no other changes (e.g., to either prevailing crude oil prices or the price relationship
between the spot price, the near month contract and the next month contract, and, ignoring the impact of commission costs and
the income earned on cash and/or cash equivalents), the value of the $49 next month futures contract would rise to $50 as it approaches
expiration. In this example, the value of an investment in the next month futures contract would tend to outperform the spot price
of crude oil. As a result, it would be possible for the new near month futures contract to rise 12% while the spot price of crude
oil may have risen a lower amount, e.g., only 10%. Similarly, the spot price of crude oil could have fallen 10% while the value
of an investment in the futures contract might have fallen another amount, e.g., only 8%. Over time, if backwardation remained
constant, this difference between the spot price and the futures contract price would continue to increase.
If the
futures market is in contango, an investor would be buying a next month futures contract for a higher price than the current near
month futures contract. Again, assuming the near month futures contract is $50 per barrel, the price of the next month futures
contract might be $51 per barrel, or 2% more expensive than the front month futures contract. Hypothetically, and assuming no
other changes, the value of the $51 next month futures contract would fall to $50 as it approaches expiration. In this example,
the value of an investment in the second month would tend to underperform the spot price of crude oil. As a result, it would be
possible for the new near month futures contract to rise only 10% while the spot price of crude oil may have risen a higher amount,
e.g., 12%. Similarly, the spot price of crude oil could have fallen 10% while the value of an investment in the second month futures
contract might have fallen another amount, e.g., 12%. Over time, if contango remained constant, this difference between the spot
price and the futures contract price would continue to increase.
The chart
below compares the daily price of the near month crude oil futures contract to the price of 13th month crude oil futures
contract (i.e., a contract one year forward) over the last 10 years. When the price of the near month futures contract is higher
than the price of the 13th month futures contract, the market would be described as being in backwardation. When the
price of the near month futures contract is lower than the 13th month futures contract, the market would be described
as being in contango. Although the price of the near month futures contract and the price of the 13th month futures
contract tend to move together, it can be seen that at times the near month futures contract prices are higher than the 13th
month futures contract prices (backwardation) and, at other times, the near month futures contract prices are lower than
the 13th month futures contract prices (contango).
*PAST
PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS
An alternative
way to view the same data is to subtract the dollar price of the 13th month crude oil futures contract from the dollar price of
the near month crude oil futures contract, as shown in the chart below. When the difference is positive, the market is in backwardation.
When the difference is negative, the market is in contango. The crude oil market spent time in both backwardation and contango
during the last ten years.
*PAST
PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS
An investment
in a portfolio that owned only the near month crude oil futures contract would likely produce a different result than an investment
in a portfolio that owned an equal number of each of the near 12 months’ of crude oil futures contracts. Generally speaking,
when the crude oil futures market is in backwardation, a portfolio of only the near month crude oil futures contract may tend
to have a higher total return than a portfolio of 12 months’ of the crude oil futures contract. Conversely, if the crude
oil futures market was in contango, the portfolio containing only 12 months’ of crude oil futures contracts may tend to
outperform the portfolio holding only the near month crude oil futures contract.
Historically,
the crude oil futures markets have experienced periods of contango and backwardation, with backwardation being in place somewhat
less often than contango since oil futures trading started in 1983. Following the global financial crisis in the fourth quarter
of 2008, the crude oil market moved into contango and remained in contango for a period of several years. During parts of 2009,
the level of contango was unusually steep as a combination of slack U.S. and global demand for crude oil and issues involving
the physical transportation and storage of crude oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, the primary pricing point for oil traded in the U.S.,
led to unusually high inventories of crude oil. A combination of improved transportation and storage capacity, along with growing
demand for crude oil globally, moderated the inventory build-up and led to reduced levels of contango by 2011. However, at the
end of November 2014, global crude oil inventories grew rapidly after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (“OPEC”)
voted to defend its market share against U.S. shale-oil producers, resulting in another period during which the crude oil market
remained primarily in contango. This period of contango continued through December 31, 2017. Declining global crude oil inventories
caused the market to flip into backwardation at the beginning of 2018 through late October 2018, at which point ongoing supply
growth in the U.S., combined with increased OPEC production, once again led market participants to fear another global glut of
crude oil. The crude oil market was primarily in contango the first half of 2019 and in backwardation during the second half of
2019. Crude oil flipped back into contango in January 2020 and remained predominantly in contango throughout 2020.
In March
2020, contango dramatically increased and reached historic levels during the economic crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic,
related supply chain disruptions and ongoing disputes among oil producing countries. This level of contango was due to significant
market volatility that occurred in crude oil markets as well as oil futures markets. Crude oil prices collapsed in the wake of
the COVID-19 demand shock, which reduced global petroleum consumption, and the price war launched by Saudi Arabia at the beginning
of March 2020 in response to Russia’s unwillingness to participate in extending previously agreed upon supply cuts. An estimated
twenty million barrels a day of crude demand evaporated as a result of quarantines and massive drops in industrial and manufacturing
activity. Eventually, the United States, OPEC, Russia, and other oil producers around the world agreed to a historic 9.7 million
barrel per day cut to crude supply. The supply cut along with the partial reopening of economies during the third quarter of 2020
reduced some of the unprecedented volatility oil markets experienced in the spring of 2020. Likewise, contango returned to moderate
levels in May 2020. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the crude oil futures market was primarily in a state of backwardation
as measured by the difference between the front month and the second month contract.
As economies
reopened and OPEC+ supply cuts were absorbed by the market, WTI crude oil prices rose from all-time lows in the spring of 2020
to an average of $68.00 per barrel during calendar year 2021. WTI crude oil inventories in the United States fell from a modern
record of 541 mb in June 2020 to 418 mb by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. Crude oil production in the United States fell
below 10 mbd twice in 2020 and once in early 2021 after peaking at 13.1 mbd in March of 2020. U.S. production rose to 11.8 mbd
by December 31, 2021. Similarly, OPEC production declined from over 30 mbd pre-COVID-19 to a pandemic low of 22.5 mbd before gradually
recovering to 28.1 mbd by December 31, 2021. While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have decreased, elevated risk
remains in the oil markets until the current and future COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures have fully subsided.
Bullish
fundamentals for crude oil prices were in place when Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, causing the United States and
other countries and certain international organizations to impose broad-ranging economic sanctions on Russia and certain Russian
individuals, banking entities and corporations as a response. The war in Ukraine, sanctions and the corresponding disruption in
the supply of Russian oil, have resulted in significant volatility in the oil markets, particularly in early March when WTI crude
oil briefly rose to over $123.70 per barrel on March 8, 2022 then fell back to $95.04 per barrel on March 16, 2022, before rising
and the falling again to end the first quarter of 2022 at $100.28 per barrel. A bullish trend for crude oil emerged from mid-April
through early June 2022 when WTI crude oil again topped $120 per barrel before, once again, giving up gains to end the fourth
quarter at $80.26.
During
the fourth quarter of 2022, crude oil prices exhibited multiple reversals, in contrast to strong gains during the first half of
the year and a steady decline during the third quarter of 2022. In 2022, U.S. production rose to a peak of 12.2 mbd while OPEC
production peaked at 29.95 mbd. Despite increased demand and tighter supply (the U.S., Russia, and OPEC have still not returned
to pre-pandemic production levels), bearish factors weighed on crude prices during the second half of 2022, including a record
drawdown in the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve, OPEC supply cuts, consumer responses to inflation, rising interest
rates, a strong dollar, and concerns about global economic growth. These factors continue to affect crude prices. Conversely,
the ongoing demand recovery for crude oil during a time when supply is lower could lead to higher prices over time. Supply constraints,
worker shortages, infrastructure and manufacturing energy usage, the war in Ukraine, and other geopolitical tensions, are factors
that could contribute to future increases in crude oil prices. Between competing bullish and bearish factors, crude could stay
range bound or could exhibit significant movement up or down over the next few quarters.
USCF believes
that holding futures contracts whose expiration dates are spread out over a 12 month period of time will cause the total return
of such a portfolio to vary compared to a portfolio that holds only a single month’s contract (such as the near month contract).
In particular, USCF believes that the total return of a portfolio holding contracts with a range of expiration months will be
impacted differently by the price relationship between different contract months of the same commodity future compared to the
total return of a portfolio consisting of the near month contract. USCF believes that based on historical evidence a portfolio
that held futures contracts with a range of expiration dates spread out over a 12 month period of time would typically be impacted
less by the positive effect of backwardation, and less by the negative effect of contango, compared to a portfolio that held contracts
of a single near month. As a result, absent the impact of any other factors, a portfolio of 12 different monthly contracts would
tend to have a lower total return than a near month only portfolio in a backwardation market and a higher total return in a contango
market. However, there can be no assurance that such historical relationships would provide the same or similar results in the
future.
Periods
of contango or backwardation do not materially impact USL’s investment objective of having the daily percentage changes
in its per share NAV track the daily percentage changes in the average of the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts since
the impact of backwardation and contango tend to equally impact the daily percentage changes in price of both USL’s shares
and the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts. It is impossible to predict with any degree of certainty whether backwardation or contango
will occur in the future. It is likely that both conditions will occur during different periods. Contango may persist for the
foreseeable future, potentially at extreme levels at times, as a result of the ongoing uncertainty in the wake of the COVID-19
crisis.
In managing
USL’s assets, USCF does not use a technical trading system that issues buy and sell orders. USCF employs a quantitative
methodology whereby each time a Creation Basket is sold, USCF purchases Oil Interests, such as the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts,
that have an aggregate market value that approximates the amount of Treasuries and/or cash received upon the issuance of the Creation
Basket.
The specific
Oil Futures Contracts purchased depend on various factors, including a judgment by USCF as to the appropriate diversification
of USL’s investments in futures contracts with respect to the month of expiration, and the prevailing price volatility of
particular contracts. In addition, USL may make use of a mixture of standard sized futures contracts as well as the smaller sized
“mini” contracts. While USCF has made significant investments in NYMEX Oil Futures Contracts, for various reasons,
including the ability to enter into the precise amount of exposure to the crude oil market, position limits or other regulatory
requirements limiting USL’s holdings, and market conditions, it may invest in Futures Contracts traded on other exchanges
or invest in Other Oil-Related Investments. To the extent that USL invests in Other Oil-Related Investments, it would prioritize
investments in contracts and instruments that are economically equivalent to the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts, including cleared
swaps that satisfy such criteria, and then, to a lesser extent, it would invest in other types of cleared swaps and other contracts,
instruments and non-cleared swaps, such as swaps in the over-the-counter market (or commonly referred to as the “OTC market”).
If USL is required by law or regulation, or by one of its regulators, including a futures exchange, to reduce its position in
the Futures Contracts to the applicable position limit or to a specified accountability level or if market conditions dictate
it would be more appropriate to invest in Other Oil-Related Investments, a substantial portion of USL’s assets could be
invested in accordance with such priority in Other Oil-Related Investments that are intended to replicate the return on the Benchmark
Oil Futures Contracts. As USL’s assets reach higher levels, it is more likely to exceed position limits, accountability
levels or other regulatory limits and, as a result, it is more likely that it will invest in accordance with such priority in
Other Oil-Related Investments at such higher levels. In addition, market conditions that USCF currently anticipates could cause
USL to invest in Other Oil-Related Investments include those allowing USL to obtain greater liquidity or to execute transactions
with more favorable pricing. See “Risk Factors Involved With an Investment in USL” for a discussion of the
potential impact of the regulation on USL’s ability to invest in OTC transactions and cleared swaps.
USCF
may not be able to fully invest USL’s assets in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts having an aggregate notional amount
exactly equal to USL’s NAV. For example, as standardized contracts, the Futures Contracts are for a specified amount of
a particular commodity, and USL’s NAV and the proceeds from the sale of a Creation Basket are unlikely to be an exact multiple
of the amounts of those contracts. As a result, in such circumstances, USL may be better able to achieve the exact amount of exposure
to changes in price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts through the use of Other Oil-Related Investments, such as OTC contracts
that have better correlation with changes in price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts.
USL anticipates
that to the extent it invests in Oil Futures Contracts other than contracts on light, sweet crude oil (such as futures contracts
for diesel-heating oil, natural gas, and other petroleum-based fuels) and Other Oil-Related Investments, it will enter into various
non-exchange-traded derivative contracts to hedge the short-term price movements of such Oil Futures Contracts and Other Oil-Related
Investments against the current Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts.
USCF
does not anticipate letting USL’s Oil Futures Contracts expire and taking delivery of the underlying commodity. Instead,
USCF will close existing positions, e.g., when it changes the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts or Other Oil-Related Investments
or it otherwise determines it would be appropriate to do so and reinvests the proceeds in new Oil Futures Contracts or Other Oil-Related
Investments. Positions may also be closed out to meet orders for Redemption Baskets and in such case proceeds for such baskets
will not be reinvested.
Each month,
the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts are changed from the near month contract to expire and the
11 following months of the futures contracts to the next month contract to expire and the 11 following months during one day each
month. Specifically, when the near month futures contract is within two weeks of expiration, USCF “rolls” USL’s
near month futures contract positions by closing, or selling, USL’s Oil Interests that are the near month to expire futures
contract and reinvesting the proceeds from closing those positions in new Oil Interests.
The anticipated
dates on which the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts are changed and USL’s Oil Interests are “rolled” will be
posted on USL’s website at www.uscfinvestments.com, and are subject to change without notice.
By remaining
invested as fully as possible in Oil Futures Contracts or Other Oil-Related Investments, USCF believes that daily changes
in percentage terms in USL’s per share NAV will continue to closely track the daily changes in percentage terms in the average
of the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts. USCF believes that certain arbitrage opportunities result in the price of
the shares traded on the NYSE Arca closely tracking the per share NAV of USL. Additionally, Oil Futures Contracts traded on the
NYMEX have closely tracked the spot price of light, sweet crude oil. Based on these expected interrelationships, USCF believes
that the daily changes in the price of USL’s shares traded on the NYSE Arca, on a percentage basis, have closely tracked and will continue to closely track the changes in the spot price of light, sweet crude oil on a percentage basis.
What are the Trading Policies
of USL?
Investment Objective
USL’s investment
objective is for the average daily percentage changes in the NAV per share to reflect the average daily percentage changes of the spot
price of light, sweet crude oil, as measured by the daily percentage changes in the average of the prices of specified short-term
futures contracts on crude oil called the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts, plus interest earned on USL’s collateral holdings,
less USL’s expenses. The Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts are the futures contracts on light, sweet crude oil as traded on the NYMEX
that is the near month contract to expire, and the contracts for the following 11 months, for a total of 12 consecutive months’
contracts, except when the near month contract is within two weeks of expiration, in which case it will be measured by the futures contract
that is the next month contract to expire and the contracts for the following 11 consecutive months. When calculating the daily movement
of the average price of the 12 contracts, each contract month is equally weighted. USL seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing
so that the average daily percentage change in USL’s NAV for any period of 30 successive valuation days will be within plus/minus
ten percent (10%) of the average daily percentage change in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts over the same period. USL’s
investment strategy is designed to provide investors with a cost-effective way to invest indirectly in crude oil and to hedge against
movements in the spot price of light, sweet crude oil.
Liquidity
USL invests
only in Oil Futures Contracts and Other Oil-Related Investments that, in the opinion of USCF, are traded in sufficient volume
to permit the ready taking and liquidation of positions in these financial interests and in Other Oil-Related Investments that,
in the opinion of USCF, may be readily liquidated with the original counterparty or through a third party assuming the position
of USL.
Spot Commodities
While
Oil Futures Contracts can be physically settled, USL does not intend to take or make physical delivery. USL may from time to time
trade in Other Oil-Related Investments, including contracts based on the spot price of crude oil.
Leverage
USCF
endeavors to have the value of USL’s Treasuries, cash and cash equivalents, whether held by USL or posted as margin or other
collateral, at all times approximate the aggregate market value of its obligations for its Oil Futures Contracts and Other Oil-Related
Investments. Commodity pools’ trading positions in futures contracts or other related investments are typically required
to be secured by the deposit of margin funds that represent only a small percentage of a futures contract’s (or other commodity
interest’s) entire market value. While USCF has not and does not intend to leverage USL’s assets, it is not prohibited
from doing so under the LP Agreement.
Although
permitted to do so under its LP Agreement, USL has not and does not intend to leverage its assets and makes its investments accordingly.
Consistent with this, USL’s investments will take into account the need for USL to make permitted investments that also
allow it to maintain adequate liquidity to meet its margin and collateral requirements and to avoid, to the extent reasonably
possible, USL becoming leveraged, including by its holding of assets that have a high probability of causing the NAV of USL to
be less than zero.
Borrowings
Borrowings
are not used by USL unless USL is required to borrow money in the event of physical delivery, if USL trades in cash commodities,
or for short-term needs created by unexpected redemptions.
OTC Derivatives (Including
Spreads and Straddles)
In addition
to Oil Futures Contracts, there are also a number of listed options on the Oil Futures Contracts on the principal futures exchanges.
These contracts offer investors and hedgers another set of financial vehicles to use in managing exposure to the crude oil market.
Consequently, USL may purchase options on crude oil Futures Contracts on these exchanges in pursuing its investment objective.
In addition
to the Oil Futures Contracts and options on the Oil Futures Contracts, there also exists an active non-exchange-traded market
in derivatives tied to crude oil. These derivatives transactions (also known as OTC contracts) are usually entered into between
two parties in private contracts. Unlike most of the exchange-traded Oil Futures Contracts or exchange-traded options on the Oil
Futures Contracts, each party to such contract bears the credit risk of the other party, i.e., the risk that the other party may
not be able to perform its obligations under its contract.
To reduce
the credit risk that arises in connection with such contracts, USL will generally enter into an agreement with each counterparty
based on the Master Agreement published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (“ISDA”) that
provides for the netting of its overall exposure to its counterparty and requires the posting by each party to cover the mark-to-market
exposure of a counterparty to the other counterparty.
USCF
assesses or reviews, as appropriate, the creditworthiness of each potential or existing counterparty to an OTC contract pursuant
to guidelines approved by USCF’s Board of Directors.
USL may
enter into certain transactions where an OTC component is exchanged for a corresponding futures contract (“Exchange for
Related Position” or “EFRP” transactions). In the most common type of EFRP transaction entered into by USL,
the OTC component is the purchase or sale of one or more baskets of USL’s shares. These EFRP transactions may expose USL
to counterparty risk during the interim period between the execution of the OTC component and the exchange for a corresponding
futures contract. Generally, the counterparty risk from the EFRP transaction will exist only on the day of execution.
USL may
employ spreads or straddles in its trading to mitigate the differences in its investment portfolio and its goal of tracking the
price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts. USL would use a spread when it chooses to take simultaneous long and short positions
in futures written on the same underlying asset, but with different delivery months.
During
the year ended December 31, 2022, USL limited its derivatives activities to Oil Futures Contracts and EFRP transactions.
Pyramiding
USL has
not employed and will not employ the technique, commonly known as pyramiding, in which the speculator uses unrealized profits
on existing positions as variation margin for the purchase or sale of additional positions in the same or another commodity interest.
Prior Performance of USL
*PAST
PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS
USCF
manages USL which is a commodity pool that issues shares traded on the NYSE Arca. The chart below shows, as of February 28, 2023,
the number of Authorized Participants, the total number of baskets created and redeemed since inception and the number of outstanding
shares for USL.
# of Authorized Participants | | |
Baskets Purchased | | |
Baskets Redeemed | | |
Outstanding Shares | |
9 | | |
| 939 | | |
| 929 | | |
| 2,350,000 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | |
The table
below shows the relationship between the trading prices of the shares and the daily NAV of USL, since inception through February
28, 2023. The first row shows the average amount of the variation between USL’s closing market price and NAV, computed on
a daily basis since inception, while the second and third rows depict the maximum daily amount of the end of day premiums and
discounts to NAV since inception, on a percentage basis. USCF believes that maximum and minimum end of day premiums and discounts
typically occur because trading in the shares continues on the NYSE Arca until 4:00 p.m. New York time while regular trading in
the Benchmark Futures Contracts on the NYMEX ceases at 2:30 p.m. New York time and the value of the relevant Benchmark Futures
Contracts, for purposes of determining its end of day NAV, can be determined at that time.
| |
USL | |
Average Difference | |
$ | 0.02 | |
Max Premium% | |
| 18.45 | % |
Max Discount% | |
| (9.72 | )% |
For more information on the
performance of USL, see the Performance Tables below.
*PAST
PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS
COMPOSITE
PERFORMANCE DATA FOR USL
Name of Pool: United States
12 Month Oil Fund, LP
Type of Pool: Public, Exchange traded security
Inception of Trading: December
6, 2007
Aggregate Subscriptions (from
inception through February 28, 2023): $998,020,036.62
Total Net Assets as of February
28, 2023: $80,345,303.45
NAV per Share as of February
28, 2023: $34.19
Worst Monthly Percentage Draw-down:
March 2020 (32.37)%
Worst Peak-to-Valley Draw-down:
June 2008 - April 2020 (87.34)%
*PAST
PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS
| |
Rates of Return* | |
Month | |
2018 | | |
2019 | | |
2020 | | |
2021 | | |
2022 | | |
2023** | |
January | |
| 5.94 | % | |
| 15.43 | % | |
| (11.72 | )% | |
| 5.57 | % | |
| 13.70 | % | |
| (1.04 | )% |
February | |
| (4.48 | )% | |
| 6.90 | % | |
| (11.25 | )% | |
| 16.27 | % | |
| 6.48 | % | |
| (2.54 | )% |
March | |
| 6.34 | % | |
| 2.41 | % | |
| (32.37 | )% | |
| (1.23 | )% | |
| 9.86 | % | |
| | |
April | |
| 6.14 | % | |
| 5.33 | % | |
| (12.50 | )% | |
| 7.04 | % | |
| 3.81 | % | |
| | |
May | |
| (0.46 | )% | |
| (14.92 | )% | |
| 29.04 | % | |
| 4.47 | % | |
| 8.93 | % | |
| | |
June | |
| 6.02 | % | |
| 8.03 | % | |
| 7.06 | % | |
| 9.63 | % | |
| (5.62 | )% | |
| | |
July | |
| (2.76 | )% | |
| 0.87 | % | |
| 4.49 | % | |
| 1.91 | % | |
| (1.17 | )% | |
| | |
August | |
| 3.36 | % | |
| (7.19 | )% | |
| 4.82 | % | |
| (4.48 | )% | |
| (5.54 | )% | |
| | |
September | |
| 6.43 | % | |
| (1.22 | )% | |
| (6.15 | )% | |
| 8.70 | % | |
| (11.96 | )% | |
| | |
October | |
| (8.36 | )% | |
| 1.74 | % | |
| (10.19 | )% | |
| 7.12 | % | |
| 9.89 | % | |
| | |
November | |
| (21.63 | )% | |
| 2.15 | % | |
| 19.90 | % | |
| (15.23 | )% | |
| (0.14 | )% | |
| | |
December | |
| (8.57 | )% | |
| 9.55 | % | |
| 5.90 | % | |
| 13.00 | % | |
| (0.45 | )% | |
| | |
Annual Rate of Return | |
| (15.34 | )% | |
| 28.79 | % | |
| (24.92 | )% | |
| 61.41 | % | |
| 27.47 | % | |
| (3.55 | )%** |
| * | The
monthly rate of return is calculated by dividing the ending NAV of a given month by the
ending NAV of the previous month, subtracting 1 and multiplying this number by 100 to
arrive at a percentage increase or decrease. |
| ** | Through
February 28, 2023. |
Draw-down:
Losses experienced by USL over a specified period. Draw-down is measured on the basis of monthly returns only and does not reflect
intra-month figures.
Worst
Monthly Percentage Draw-down: The largest single month loss sustained during the most recent five calendar years and year-to-date.
Worst
Peak-to-Valley Draw-down: The largest percentage decline in the NAV per share over the history of USL. This need not be a continuous
decline, but can be a series of positive and negative returns where the negative returns are larger than the positive returns.
Worst Peak-to-Valley Draw-down represents the greatest cumulative percentage decline in month-end per share NAV is not equaled
or exceeded by a subsequent month-end per share NAV.
USL’s Operations
USCF and its Management
and Traders
USCF is
a single member limited liability company that was formed in the state of Delaware on May 10, 2005. USCF maintains its main business
office at 1850 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Suite 640, Walnut Creek, California 94596. USCF is a wholly-owned subsidiary of USCF Investments,
a Delaware corporation, which is an intermediate holding company that owns USCF and another advisor of exchange traded funds.
USCF Investments is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marygold (publicly traded under the ticker MGLD), a publicly traded holding company
that owns various financial and non-financial businesses. Mr. Nicholas Gerber (discussed below), along with certain family members
and certain other shareholders, owns the majority of the shares in Marygold. USCF Investments is a holding company that currently
holds both USCF, as well as USCF Advisers LLC, an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as
amended (“USCF Advisers”). USCF Advisers serves as the investment adviser for the USCF SummerHaven Dynamic Commodity
Strategy No K-1 Fund (“SDCI”), the USCF Midstream Energy Income Fund (“UMI”), the USCF Gold Strategy Plus
Income Fund (“GLDX”), the USCF Dividend Income Fund (“UDI”), and the USCF Sustainable Battery Metals Strategy
Fund (“ZSB”), each of which is a series of the USCF ETF Trust. It was also the investment adviser for two series
of the USCF ETF Trust that liquidated all of their assets and distributed cash pro rata to all remaining shareholders: the USCF
SummerHaven SHPEI Index Fund (“BUY”), until October 2020, and the USCF SummerHaven SHPEN Index Fund (“BUYN”), until May 2020.
The USCF ETF Trust is registered under the 1940 Act. The Board of Trustees for the USCF ETF Trust consists of different independent
trustees than those independent directors who serve on the Board of Directors of USCF. USCF is a member of the NFA and registered
as a CPO with the CFTC on December 1, 2005 and as a swaps firm on August 8, 2013.
USCF serves
as the general partner of USL. USCF is also the general partner of the United States Oil Fund, LP (“USO”), the United
States Natural Gas Fund, LP (“UNG”), the United States Gasoline Fund, LP (“UGA”), the United States 12
Month Natural Gas Fund, LP (“UNL”) and the United States Brent Oil Fund, LP (“BNO”).
USCF
is also the sponsor of the United States Commodity Index Fund (“USCI”) and the United States Copper Index Fund (“CPER”),
each a series of the United States Commodity Index Funds Trust (“USCIFT”).
USO,
UNG, UGA, UNL, BNO, USCI and CPER are referred to collectively herein as the “Related Public Funds.”
USL and
the Related Public Funds are subject to reporting requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “1934
Act”). For more information about each of the Related Public Funds, investors in USL may call 1-800-920-0259 or visit www.uscfinvestments.com
or the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
USCF
is required to evaluate the credit risk of USL to the FCMs, oversee the purchase and sale of USL’s shares by certain authorized
participants (“Authorized Participants”), review daily positions and margin requirements of USL and manage USL’s
investments. USCF also pays the fees of ALPS Distributors, Inc., which serves as the marketing agent for USL (the “Marketing
Agent”), and The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon”), which serves as the administrator (the “Administrator”)
and the custodian (the “Custodian”), and provides accounting and transfer agent services for, USL since April 1, 2020.
In no event may the aggregate compensation paid for the Marketing Agent and any affiliate of USCF for distribution-related services
in connection with the offering of shares exceed ten percent (10%) of the gross proceeds of this offering.
The limited
partners take no part in the management or control, and have a minimal voice in USL’s operations or business. Limited partners
have no right to elect USCF on an annual or any other continuing basis. If USCF voluntarily withdraws, however, the holders of
a majority of USL’s outstanding shares (excluding for purposes of such determination shares owned, if any, by the withdrawing
general partner and its affiliates) may elect its successor. USCF may not be removed as general partner except upon approval by
the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3 percent of USL’s outstanding shares (excluding shares, if any, owned
by USCF and its affiliates), subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions set forth in the LP Agreement.
The business
and affairs of USCF are managed by the Board, which is comprised of the Management Directors, each of whom are also executive
officers and employees of USCF, and three independent directors who meet the independent director requirements established by
the NYSE Arca Equities Rules and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The Management Directors have the authority to manage USCF pursuant
to the terms of the LLC Agreement. Through its Management Directors, USCF manages the day-to-day operations of USL. The Board
has an audit committee which is made up of the three independent directors (Gordon L. Ellis, Malcolm R. Fobes III and Peter M.
Robinson). The audit committee is governed by an audit committee charter that is posted on USL’s website at www.uscfinvestments.com.
The Board has determined that each member of the audit committee meets the financial literacy requirements of the NYSE Arca and
the audit committee charter. The Board has further determined that each of Messrs. Ellis and Fobes have accounting or related
financial management expertise, as required by the NYSE Arca, such that each of them is considered an “Audit Committee Financial
Expert” as such term is defined in Item 407(d)(5) of Regulation S-K.
USL has
no executive officers. Pursuant to the terms of the LP Agreement, USL’s affairs are managed by USCF.
The following
are individual Principals, as that term is defined in CFTC Rule 3.1, for USCF: John P. Love, Stuart P. Crumbaugh, Daphne G.
Frydman, Nicholas D. Gerber, Melinda D. Gerber, Andrew F Ngim, Robert L. Nguyen, Peter M. Robinson, Kathryn D. Rooney,
Scott Schoenberger, Gordon L. Ellis, Malcolm R. Fobes III, Ray W. Allen, Kevin A. Baum, and USCF Investments, Inc., formerly
Wainwright Holdings, Inc. The individuals who are Principals due to their positions are John P. Love, Stuart P. Crumbaugh,
Daphne G. Frydman, Andrew F Ngim, Robert L. Nguyen, Peter M. Robinson, Kathryn D. Rooney, Gordon L. Ellis, Malcolm
R. Fobes III, Ray W. Allen, and Kevin A. Baum. In addition, USCF Investments is a Principal because it is the sole member
of USCF. None of the Principals owns or has any other beneficial interest in USL. Ray W. Allen makes trading and investment decisions
for USL. Ray W. Allen, Darius Coby, Seth Lancaster, and Zach Sanchez execute trades on behalf of USL. In addition, Nicholas
D. Gerber, John P. Love, Robert L. Nguyen, Ray W. Allen, Kevin A. Baum, Kathryn Rooney, Maya Lowry, and Ryan Katz are registered
with the CFTC as Associated Persons of USCF and are NFA Associate Members. John P. Love, Kevin A. Baum and Ray W. Allen are also
registered with the CFTC as Swaps Associated Persons.
Ray
W. Allen, 66, Portfolio Manager of USCF since January 2008. Mr. Allen was the portfolio manager of: (1) UGA from February
2008 until March 2010, and then portfolio manager since May 2015, (2) UHN from April 2008 until March 2010, and then portfolio
manager from May 2015 to September 2018, (3) UNL from November 2009 until March 2010, and then portfolio manager since May 2015.
In addition, he has been the portfolio manager of: (1) DNO from September 2009 to September 2018, (2) USO and USL since March
2010, (3) BNO since June 2010, (4) UNG since May 2015, and (4) United States 3x Oil Fund and United States 3x Short Oil Fund from
July 2017 to December 2019, and (5) the USCF Commodity Strategy Fund, a series of USCF Mutual Funds Trust, from October 2017 to
March 2019. Mr. Allen also has served as the portfolio manager of the USCF SummerHaven Dynamic Commodity Strategy No K-1 Fund,
a series of the USCF ETF Trust, from May 2018 to October 2021 and then portfolio manager since January 2022. Mr. Allen has been
a principal of USCF listed with the CFTC and NFA since March 2009 and has been registered as an associated person of USCF since
July 2015 and from March 2008 to November 2012. Additionally, Mr. Allen has been approved as an NFA swaps associated person of
USCF since July 2015. As of February 2017, he also is an associated person and swap associated person of USCF Advisers, LLC (“USCF
Advisers”). USCF Advisers, an affiliate of USCF, is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of
1940, and, as of February 2017, is registered as a commodity pool operator, NFA member and swap firm. Mr. Allen earned a B.A.
in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and holds an NFA Series 3 registration.
Kevin
A. Baum, 52, has served as the Chief Investment Officer of USCF since September 1, 2016 and as a Portfolio Manager of
USCF from March 2016 to April 2017. He also serves as the Chief Investment Officer of USCF Advisers since June 2021. Prior to
joining USCF, Mr. Baum temporarily retired from December 2015 to March 2016. Mr. Baum served as the Vice President and Senior
Portfolio Manager for Invesco, an investment manager that manages a family of exchange-traded funds, from October 2014 through
December 2015. Mr. Baum was temporarily retired from May 2012 through September 2014. From May 1993 to April 2012, Mr. Baum worked
as the Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Commodities for OppenheimerFunds, Inc., a global asset manager. Mr. Baum has been approved
with respect to USCF as an NFA principal and associated person since April 2016 and a swap associated person since November 2020.
He also is an associated person of USCF Advisers as of February 2017, and, as of June 2021, a principal and swap associated person of USCF Advisers. USCF Advisers,
an affiliate of USCF, is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and, as of February 2017,
is registered as a commodity pool operator, NFA member and swap firm. Mr. Baum is a CFA Charterholder, CAIA Charterholder, earned
a B.B.A. in Finance from Texas Tech University and holds an NFA Series 3 registration.
Stuart
P. Crumbaugh, 59, Management Director of USCF since April 2023 and Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer
of USCF since May 2015. Also, Mr. Crumbaugh is the Chief Financial Officer of The Marygold Companies, Inc., formerly Concierge
Technologies, Inc. (“Marygold”), the parent of USCF Investments, Inc. (formerly Wainwright Holdings, Inc.)
(“USCF Investments”) since December 2017. He is also the Treasurer and a member of the Board of Directors of Marygold
& Co., a subsidiary of Marygold, since November 2019. In addition, Mr. Crumbaugh has served as a director of USCF Investments,
the parent and sole member of USCF, since December 2016. Mr. Crumbaugh has been a principal of USCF listed with the CFTC and NFA
since July 1, 2015 and, as of January 2017, he is a principal of USCF Advisers. USCF Advisers, an affiliate of USCF, is an investment
adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and, as of February 2017, is registered as a commodity pool operator,
NFA member and swap firm. Since June 2015, Mr. Crumbaugh has been the Treasurer and Secretary of USCF Advisers. He has served
as a Management Trustee, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of USCF ETF Trust since May 2015 and (2) USCF Mutual Funds Trust
since October 2016. Mr. Crumbaugh joined USCF as the Assistant Chief Financial Officer on April 6, 2015. Prior to joining USCF,
Mr. Crumbaugh was the Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Sikka Software Corporation, a software service healthcare
company providing optimization software and data solutions from April 2014 to April 6, 2015. Mr. Crumbaugh served as a consultant
providing technical accounting, IPO readiness and M&A consulting services to various early stage companies with the Connor
Group, a technical accounting consulting firm, for the periods of January 2014 through March 2014; October 2012 through November
2012; and January 2011 through February 2011. From December 2012 through December 2013, Mr. Crumbaugh was Vice President, Corporate
Controller and Treasurer of Auction.com, LLC, a residential and commercial real estate online auction company. From March 2011
through September 2012, Mr. Crumbaugh was Chief Financial Officer of IP Infusion Inc., a technology company providing network
routing and switching software enabling software-defined networking solutions for major mobile carriers and network infrastructure
providers. Mr. Crumbaugh earned a B.A. in Accounting and Business Administration from Michigan State University in 1987 and is
a Certified Public Accountant – Michigan (inactive).
Daphne
G. Frydman, 48, General Counsel of USCF and USCF Advisers, LLC since May 2018, and Director of Compliance of USCF since
April 2022. She is also the Chief Legal Officer of USCF ETF Trust since May 2018 and Secretary of the same since December 2021.
Ms. Frydman served as Deputy General Counsel of USCF and USCF Advisers, LLC from May 2016 through May 2018. From September 2001
through April 2016, Ms. Frydman was an attorney in private practice at the law firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP. Ms. Frydman
is listed as a principal of USCF as of June 1, 2022. Ms. Frydman earned her JD from the Northwestern University Pritzker School
of Law and a B.A. in College of Letters and Spanish from Wesleyan University.
John P.
Love, 51, President and Chief Executive Officer of USCF since May 15, 2015, Management Director of USCF since October
2016 and Chairman of the Board of Directors of USCF since October 2019. Mr. Love also is a director of USCF Investments, a position he
has held since December 2016. Mr. Love previously served as a Senior Portfolio Manager for the Related Public Funds from March 2010 through
May 15, 2015. Prior to that, while still at USCF, he was a Portfolio Manager beginning with the launch of USO in April 2006. Mr. Love
was the portfolio manager of USO from April 2006 until March 2010 and the portfolio manager for USL from December 2007 until March 2010.
Mr. Love has been the portfolio manager of UNG since April 2007, and the portfolio manager of UGA, UHN, and UNL since March 2010. Mr.
Love has served as on the Board of Managers of USCF Advisers since November 2016 and as its President since June 18, 2015. USCF Advisers,
an affiliate of USCF, is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and, as of February 2017, is registered
as a commodity pool operator, NFA member and swap firm. He also acted as co-portfolio manager of the Stock Split Index Fund, a series
of the USCF ETF Trust for the period from September 2014 to December 2015, when he was promoted to the position of President and Chief
Executive Officer of the USCF ETF Trust. Since October 2016 to present, he also has served as the President and Chief Executive of the
USCF Mutual Funds Trust. Mr. Love has been a principal of USCF listed with the CFTC and NFA since January 17, 2006. Mr. Love has been
registered as an associated person of USCF since February 2015 and from December 1, 2005 to April 16, 2009. Additionally, Mr. Love has
been approved as an NFA swaps associated person since February 2015. Mr. Love is a principal of USCF Advisers LLC as of January 2017.
Additionally, effective as of February 2017, he is an associated person and swap associated person of USCF Advisers. Mr. Love
earned a B.A. from the University of Southern California, holds an NFA Series 3 and FINRA Series 7 registrations and is a CFA Charterholder.
Andrew
F Ngim, 62, co-founded USCF in 2005 and has served as a Management Director from May 2005 to April 2023 and, since August 15, 2016,
has served as the Chief Operating Officer of USCF. Mr. Ngim has served as the portfolio manager for USCI and CPER since January
2013 and for the United States Agriculture Index Fund from January 2013 to September 2018. Mr. Ngim also served as USCF’s
Treasurer from June 2005 to February 2012. In addition, he has been on the Board of Managers and has served as the Assistant Secretary
and Assistant Treasurer of USCF Advisers since its inception in June 2013 and Chief Operating Officer of USCF Advisers since March
2021. Prior to and concurrent with his services to USCF and USCF Advisers, from January 1999 to January 2013, Mr. Ngim served
as a Managing Director for Ameristock Corporation, a California-based investment adviser, which he co-founded in March 1995, and
was Co-Portfolio Manager of Ameristock Mutual Fund, Inc. from January 2000 to January 2013. Mr. Ngim also served as portfolio
manager of (a) the following series of the USCF ETF Trust: (1) the Stock Split Index Fund from September 2014 to October 2017,
(2) the USCF Restaurant Leaders Fund from November 2016 to October 2017, (3) USCF SummerHaven SHPEI Index Fund from December 2017
to October 2020, (4) USCF SummerHaven SHPEN Index Fund from December 2017 to April 2020, and (b) a series of USCF Mutual Funds
Trust, the USCF Commodity Strategy Fund, from March 2017 to March 2019. Mr. Ngim also serves as the portfolio manager for the
following series of the USCF ETF Trust: (1) USCF SummerHaven Dynamic Commodity Strategy No K-1 Fund, from May 2018 to present,
and (2) the USCF Sustainable Battery Metals Strategy Fund from January 2023 to present. Mr. Ngim serves as a Management Trustee
of: (1) the USCF ETF Trust from August 2014 to the present and (2) the USCF Mutual Funds Trust from October 2016 to present. Mr.
Ngim has been a principal of USCF listed with the CFTC and NFA since November 2005 and a principal of USCF Advisers LLC since
January 2017. USCF Advisers, an affiliate of USCF, is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940,
and, as of February 2017, is registered as a commodity pool operator, NFA member and swap firm. Mr. Ngim earned his B.A. from
the University of California at Berkeley.
Robert
L. Nguyen, 63, Management Director and principal since July 2015. Mr. Nguyen served on the Board of USCF Investments from
December 2014 to December 2016. Mr. Nguyen co-founded USCF in 2005 and served as a Management Director until March 2012. Mr. Nguyen
was an Investment Manager with Ribera Investment Management, an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act
of 1940, from January 2013 to March 2015. Prior to and concurrent with his services to USCF, from January 2000 to January 2013,
Mr. Nguyen served as a Managing Principal for Ameristock Corporation, a California-based investment adviser registered under the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940, which he co-founded in March 1995. Mr. Nguyen was a principal of USCF listed with the CFTC and
NFA from November 2005 through March 2012 and an associated person of USCF listed with the CFTC and NFA from November 2007 through
March 2012. Mr. Nguyen has been a principal of USCF listed with the CFTC and NFA since July 2015 and an associated person of USCF
listed with the CFTC and NFA since December 2015. As of February 2017, he also is an associated person of USCF Advisers. USCF
Advisers, an affiliate of USCF, is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and, as of February
2017, is registered as a commodity pool operator, NFA member and swap firm. Mr. Nguyen earned his B.S. from California State University
at Sacramento, and holds NFA Series 3 and FINRA Series 7 registrations.
Kathryn
D. Rooney, 50, Management Director of USCF since April 2023 and Chief Marketing Officer of USCF since January 2016.
Since January 2017, she also has served as a member of the Board of Directors of The Marygold Companies, which is the parent of
USCF Investments, Inc. USCF Investments, Inc. is the sole member of USCF. Previously, Ms. Rooney was the National Sales Director
at USCF from January 2007 to December 2015. Ms. Rooney was the Director of Business Development at the Ameristock Corporation,
a California-based registered investment adviser, from September 2003 to January 2007. Prior to joining the Ameristock Corporation,
she was Regional Sales Director at Accessor Capital Management, a registered investment adviser that was based in Seattle, Washington,
from October 2002 to August 2003, National Sales Director at ALPS Mutual Fund Services, Inc., a boutique investment services company
offering outsourced back office operations and distribution services to mutual fund managers, from June 1999 to October 2002,
and Trust Officer at Fifth Third Bancorp, an American bank holding company headquartered in Ohio, from June 1994 to May 1999.
Additionally, Ms. Rooney has been registered as an associated person of USCF since August 2015 and from December 2005 to April
2009 and is listed as a principal of USCF effective as of April 2023. Additionally, effective as of February 2017, she is an associated
person of USCF Advisers, LLC, an affiliate of USCF, which is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act
of 1940, and, as of February 2017, is registered as a commodity pool operator, NFA member and swap firm. Ms. Rooney graduated
from Wellesley College with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and psychology in June 1994.
Gordon
L. Ellis, 76, Independent Director of USCF since September 2005. Previously, Mr. Ellis was a founder of International
Absorbents, Inc., Director and Chairman since July 1985 and July 1988, respectively, and Chief Executive Officer and President
since November 1996. He also served as Chairman of Absorption Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Absorbents, Inc.,
which is a leading developer and producer of environmentally friendly pet care and industrial products, from May July 1985 until
July 2010 when it was sold to Kinderhook Industries, a private investment banking firm and remained as a director until March
2013 when Absorption Corp was sold again to J. Rettenmaier & Söhne Group, a German manufacturing firm. Concurrent with
that, he founded and has served as Chairman from November 2010 to present of Lupaka Gold Corp., a firm that acquires, explores
and developed mining properties and is currently driving an arbitration suit against the Republic of Peru. He also serves as a
director of Goldhaven Resources, a firm that acquires, explores and develops mining properties in Canada and Chile, from August
2020 to present. Mr. Ellis has his Chartered Directors designation from The Director’s College (a joint venture of McMaster
University and The Conference Board of Canada). He has been a principal of USCF listed with the CFTC and NFA since November 2005.
Mr. Ellis is a professional engineer, retired, and earned an MBA in international finance.
Malcolm
R. Fobes III, 58, Independent Director of USCF and Chairman of USCF’s audit committee since September 2005. He founded
and is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Berkshire Capital Holdings, Inc., a California-based
investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 that has been sponsoring and providing portfolio management
services to mutual funds since June 1997. Mr. Fobes serves as Chairman and President of The Berkshire Funds, a mutual fund investment
company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Since 1997, Mr. Fobes has also served as portfolio manager of the
Berkshire Focus Fund, a mutual fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, which concentrates its investments in
the electronic technology industry. He was also contributing editor of Start a Successful Mutual Fund: The Step-by-Step Reference
Guide to Make It Happen (JV Books, 1995). Mr. Fobes has been a principal of USCF listed with the CFTC and NFA since November 2005.
He earned a B.S. in finance with a minor in economics from San Jose State University in California.
Peter
M. Robinson, 65, Independent Director of USCF since September 2005. Mr. Robinson has been a Research Fellow since 1993
with the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank located on the campus of Stanford University. He authored three books
and has been published in the New York Times, Red Herring, and Forbes ASAP and is the editor of Can Congress Be Fixed?: Five Essays
on Congressional Reform (Hoover Institution Press, 1995). Mr. Robinson has been a principal of USCF listed with the CFTC and NFA
since December 2005. He earned an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, graduated from Oxford University
in 1982 after studying politics, philosophy, and economics and graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1979.
USL’s Service Providers
Custodian, Registrar, Transfer
Agent, and Administrator
In its
capacity as the Custodian for USL, The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) holds
USL’s Treasuries, cash and/or cash equivalents pursuant to a custody agreement. BNY Mellon is also the registrar and transfer
agent for the shares. In addition, in its capacity as Administrator for USL, BNY Mellon performs certain administrative and accounting
services for USL and prepares certain SEC, NFA and CFTC reports on behalf of USL.
As compensation
for the services that BNY Mellon provides to USL in the foregoing capacities, and the services BNY Mellon provides to the Related
Public Funds, BNY Mellon receives certain out of pocket costs, transaction fees, and asset based fees, which are accrued daily
and paid monthly by USCF.
BNY Mellon
is authorized to conduct a commercial banking business in accordance with the provisions of New York State Banking Law, and is
subject to regulation, supervision, and examination by the New York State Department of Financial Services and the Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System.
Marketing Agent
USL also
employs ALPS Distributors, Inc. (“ALPS Distributors”) as the Marketing Agent, which is further discussed under “What
is the Plan of Distribution?” USCF pays the Marketing Agent an annual fee. In no event may the aggregate compensation paid
to the Marketing Agent and any affiliate of USCF for distribution-related services in connection with the offering of shares exceed
ten percent (10%) of the gross proceeds of the offering.
ALPS
Distributors’ principal business address is 1290 Broadway, Suite 1000, Denver, CO 80203. ALPS Distributors is a broker-dealer
registered with the SEC and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and a member of the
Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
Payments to Certain Third
Parties
USCF
or the Marketing Agent, or an affiliate of USCF or the Marketing Agent, may directly or indirectly make cash payments to certain
broker-dealers for participating in activities that are designed to make registered representatives and other professionals more
knowledgeable about exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products, including USL and the Related Public Funds, or for other
activities, such as participation in marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development
of technology platforms and reporting systems.
Additionally,
pursuant to written agreements, USCF may make payments, out of its own resources, to financial intermediaries in exchange for
providing services in connection with the sale or servicing of USL’s shares, including waiving commissions on the purchase
or sale of shares of participating exchange-traded products.
Payments
to a broker-dealer or intermediary may create potential conflicts of interest between the broker-dealer or intermediary and its
clients. The amounts described above, which may be significant, are paid by USCF and/or the Marketing Agent from their own resources
and not from the assets of USL or the Related Public Funds.
Futures Commission Merchants
RBC Capital Markets, LLC
On October
8, 2013, USCF entered into a Futures and Cleared Derivatives Transactions Customer Account Agreement with RBC Capital Markets,
LLC (“RBC Capital” or “RBC”) to serve as USL’s FCM, effective October 10, 2013. This agreement requires
RBC Capital to provide services to USL, as of October 10, 2013, in connection with the purchase and sale of Oil Futures Contracts
and Other Oil-Related Investments that may be purchased or sold by or through RBC Capital for USL’s account. For the period
October 10, 2013 and after, USL pays RBC Capital commissions for executing and clearing trades on behalf of USL.
RBC Capital’s
primary address is 30 Hudson Street, 27th Floor, Jersey City, NJ 07302. Effective October 10, 2013, RBC Capital became the futures
clearing broker for USL. RBC Capital is registered in the United States with FINRA as a broker-dealer and with the CFTC as an
FCM. RBC Capital is a member of various U.S. futures and securities exchanges.
RBC Capital
is a large broker dealer subject to many different complex legal and regulatory requirements. As a result, certain of RBC Capital’s
regulators may from time to time conduct investigations, initiate enforcement proceedings and/or enter into settlements with RBC
Capital with respect to issues raised in various investigations. RBC Capital complies fully with its regulators in all investigations
being conducted and in all settlements it reaches. In addition, RBC Capital is and has been subject to a variety of civil legal
claims in various jurisdictions, a variety of settlement agreements and a variety of orders, awards and judgments made against
it by courts and tribunals, both in regard to such claims and investigations. RBC Capital complies fully with all settlements
it reaches and all orders, awards and judgments made against it.
RBC Capital
has been named as a defendant in various legal actions, including arbitrations, class actions and other litigation including those
described below, arising in connection with its activities. Certain of the actual or threatened legal actions include claims for
substantial compensatory and/or punitive damages or claims for indeterminate amounts of damages. RBC Capital is also involved,
in other reviews, investigations and proceedings (both formal and informal) by governmental and self-regulatory agencies regarding
RBC Capital’s business, including among other matters, accounting and operational matters, certain of which may result in
adverse judgments, settlements, fines, penalties, injunctions or other relief.
RBC Capital
contests liability and/or the amount of damages as appropriate in each pending matter. In view of the inherent difficulty of predicting
the outcome of such matters, particularly in cases where claimants seek substantial or indeterminate damages or where investigations
and proceedings are in the early stages, RBC Capital cannot predict the loss or range of loss, if any, related to such matters;
how or if such matters will be resolved; when they will ultimately be resolved; or what the eventual settlement, fine, penalty
or other relief, if any, might be. Subject to the foregoing, RBC Capital believes, based on current knowledge and after consultation
with counsel, that the outcome of such pending matters will not have a material adverse effect on the consolidated financial condition
of RBC Capital.
On April
27, 2017, pursuant to an offer of settlement, a Panel of the Chicago Board of Trade Business Conduct Committee (“Panel”)
found that RBC Capital engaged in EFRP transactions which failed to satisfy the Rules of the Chicago Board of Trade (the “Chicago
Board of Trade”) in one or more ways. Specifically, the Panel found that RBC Capital traders entered into EFRP trades in
which RBC Capital accounts were on both sides of the transactions. While the purpose of the transactions was to transfer positions
between the RBC Capital accounts, the Panel found that the manner in which the trades occurred violated the Chicago Board of Trade’s
prohibition on wash trades. The Panel found that RBC Capital thereby violated CBOT Rules 534 and (legacy) 538.B. and C. In accordance
with the settlement offer, the Panel ordered RBC Capital to pay a $175,000 fine. On October 1, 2019, the CFTC issued an order
filing and settling charges against RBC Capital for the above activity, as well as related charges. The order required that RBC Capital cease
and desist from violating the applicable regulations, pay a $5 million civil monetary penalty, and comply with various conditions,
including conditions regarding public statements and future cooperation with the CFTC.
Various
regulators are conducting inquiries regarding potential violations of antitrust law by a number of banks and other entities, including
RBC Capital, regarding foreign exchange trading. Beginning in 2015, putative class actions were brought against RBC Capital and/or
Royal Bank of Canada, RBC Capital’s indirect parent, in the U.S. and Canada. These actions were each brought against multiple
foreign exchange dealers and allege, among other things, collusive behavior in global foreign exchange trading. In August 2018,
the U.S. District Court entered a final order approving RBC Capital’s settlement with class plaintiffs. In November 2018,
certain institutional plaintiffs who had previously opted-out of participating in the settlement filed their own lawsuit in U.S.
District Court. In May 2020, the U.S. District Court dismissed RBC Capital from the opt-out action, but granted the plaintiffs’
motion to amend the complaint. The Canadian class actions remain pending and RBC Capital has reached a settlement for an immaterial
amount with respect to an action brought by a class of indirect purchasers. RBC Capital is awaiting the court’s final approval
of the settlement. In October 2020, RBC Capital and Royal Bank of Canada moved to dismiss the amended complaint. On July 28, 2021,
the court dismissed Royal Bank of Canada from the case but denied the motion as to RBC. Based on the facts currently known, it
is not possible at this time for management to predict the ultimate outcome of these collective matters or the timing of their
ultimate resolution.
On April
13, 2015, RBC Capital’s affiliate, Royal Bank of Canada Trust Company (Bahamas) Limited (RBC Bahamas), was charged in France
with complicity in tax fraud. RBC Bahamas believes that its actions did not violate French law and contested the charge in the
French court. The trial of this matter has concluded and a verdict was delivered on January 12, 2017, acquitting the company and
the other defendants and on June 29, 2018, the French appellate court affirmed the acquittals. On January 6, 2021, the French
Supreme Court issued a judgment reversing the decision of the French Court of Appeal dated June 29, 2018 and sent the case back
to the French Court of Appeal for rehearing and, therefore, the proceeding is currently awaiting a new trial with the French Court
of Appeal.
Royal
Bank of Canada and other panel banks for the setting of the U.S. dollar London interbank offered rate (“LIBOR”) have
been named as defendants in private lawsuits filed in the U.S. with respect to the setting of U.S. dollar LIBOR including a number
of class action lawsuits which have been consolidated before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. RBC
Capital has also been named as a defendant in one of those lawsuits. The complaints in those private lawsuits assert claims under
various U.S. laws, including U.S. antitrust laws, the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act, and state law.
In addition
to the LIBOR actions, in January 2019, a number of financial institutions, including RBC Capital, were named in a purported class
action in New York alleging violations of the U.S. antitrust laws and common law principles of unjust enrichment in the setting
of LIBOR after the Intercontinental Exchange took over administration of the benchmark interest rate from the British Bankers’
Association in 2014 (the “ICE LIBOR action”). On March 26, 2020, the defendants’ motion to dismiss the ICE LIBOR
action was granted. The plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal of that ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit on April 24, 2020 and, thereafter, sought to substitute named plaintiffs. The Second Circuit permitted substitution, but
has not yet ruled on the merits of the appeal. In August 2020, Royal Bank of Canada and other financial institutions were named
as defendants in a separate, individual (i.e., non-class) action filed in California alleging that the usage and setting of LIBOR
constitutes per se collusive conduct. In November 2020 and May 2021, plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction with respect to
the setting of ICE LIBOR; defendants opposed these motions and sought to transfer the matter to New York. On June 3, 2021, the
court denied defendants’ motion to transfer. Defendants then moved to dismiss. Plaintiffs’ motions for a preliminary
injunction and defendants’ motion to dismiss remain pending. Based on the facts currently known, it is not possible at this
time to predict the ultimate outcome of these proceedings or the timing of their resolution.
Please
see RBC Capital’s Form BD, which is available on the FINRA BrokerCheck program, for more details.
RBC Capital
will act only as clearing broker for USL and as such will be paid commissions for executing and clearing trades on behalf of USL.
RBC Capital has not passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. RBC Capital will not act in any supervisory
capacity with respect to USCF or participate in the management of USCF or USL.
RBC Capital
is not affiliated with USL or USCF. Therefore, neither USCF nor USL believes that there are any conflicts of interest with RBC
Capital or its trading principals arising from its acting as USL’s FCM.
Marex North America,
LLC
On May 28, 2020,
USL entered into a Commodity Futures Customer Agreement with RCG Division of Marex Spectron, now Marex North America, LLC (“MNA”)
to serve as an FCM for USL. This agreement requires MNA to provide services to USL in connection with the purchase and sale of
futures that may be purchased or sold by or through MNA for USL’s account.
Under this agreement, USL pays MNA commissions for executing and clearing trades on behalf of USL.
MNA’s
primary address is 140 E 45th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10017. MNA is registered in the United States with FINRA
as a broker-dealer and with the CFTC as an FCM. MNA is a member of various U.S. futures and securities exchanges.
MNA is
a large broker dealer subject to many different complex legal and regulatory requirements. As a result, certain of MNA’s
regulators may from time to time conduct investigations, initiate enforcement proceedings and/or enter into settlements with MNA
with respect to issues raised in various investigations. MNA complies fully with its regulators in all investigations which may
be conducted and in all settlements it may reach.
MNA settled
with the CFTC in September 2020 to pay a monetary penalty of $250,000 for failure to meet minimum adjusted net capital requirements.
MNA improperly accounted for deductions arising out of an agreement that it entered to guarantee a revolving line of credit for
an affiliated company when computing its net capital requirements.
MNA will
act only as clearing broker for USL and as such will be paid commissions for executing and clearing trades on behalf of USL. MNA
has not passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. MNA will not act in any supervisory capacity with respect
to USCF or participate in the management of USCF or USL.
MNA is
not affiliated with USL or USCF. Therefore, neither USCF nor USL believes that there are any conflicts of interest with MNA or
its trading principals arising from its acting as USL’s FCM.
Marex Capital Markets,
Inc., formerly E D & F Man Capital Markets Inc.
On June
5, 2020, USL entered into a Customer Agreement with E D & F Man Capital Markets Inc. (“MCM”) to serve as an FCM for
USL. This agreement requires MCM to provide services to USL in connection with the purchase and sale of Oil Futures Contracts
and Other Oil-Related Investments that may be purchased or sold by or through MCM for USL’s account. Under this agreement,
USL pays MCM commissions for executing and clearing trades on behalf of USL.
MCM’s
primary address is 140 East 45th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10017. MCM is registered in the United States with FINRA as
a broker-dealer and with the CFTC as an FCM. MCM is a member of various U.S. futures and securities exchanges.
MCM is
a large broker dealer subject to many different complex legal and regulatory requirements. As a result, certain of MCM’s
regulators may from time to time conduct investigations, initiate enforcement proceedings and/or enter into settlements with MCM
with respect to issues raised in various investigations. MCM complies fully with its regulators in all investigations which may
be conducted and in all settlements it may reach. As of the date hereof, MCM has no material litigation to disclose as that term
is defined under the CEA and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
MCM
was acquired by the Marex Group in phases during the second half of 2022 and went from doing business as E D & F Man Capital Markets,
Inc. to Marex Capital Markets, Inc.
MCM will
act only as clearing broker for USL and as such will be paid commissions for executing and clearing trades on behalf of USL. MCM
has not passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. MCM will not act in any supervisory capacity with respect
to USCF or participate in the management of USCF or USL.
MCM is
not affiliated with USL or USCF. Therefore, neither USCF nor USL believes that there are any conflicts of interest with MCM or
its trading principals arising from its acting as USL’s FCM.
Macquarie Futures USA LLC
On December
3, 2020, USL engaged Macquarie Futures USA LLC (“MFUSA”) to serve as an additional FCM for USL. The Customer Agreement
between USL and MFUSA requires MFUSA to provide services to USL in connection with the purchase and sale of futures that may be purchased or sold by or through MFUSA for USL’s account.
Under this agreement, USL pays MFUSA commissions for executing and clearing trades on behalf of USL.
MFUSA’s
primary address is 125 West 55th Street, New York, NY 10019. MFUSA is registered in the United States with the CFTC
as an FCM providing futures execution and clearing services covering futures exchanges globally. MFUSA is a member of various
U.S. futures and securities exchanges.
MFUSA
is a large broker dealer subject to many different complex legal and regulatory requirements. As a result, certain of MFUSA’s
regulators may from time to time conduct investigations, initiate enforcement proceedings and/or enter into settlements with MFUSA
with respect to issues raised in various investigations. MFUSA complies fully with its regulators in all investigations which
may be conducted and in all settlements it may reach. As of the date hereof, MFUSA has no material litigation to disclose as that
term is defined under the CEA and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
MFUSA
will act only as clearing broker for USL and as such will be paid commissions for executing and clearing trades on behalf of USL.
MFUSA has not passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. MFUSA will not act in any supervisory capacity
with respect to USCF or participate in the management of USCF or USL.
MFUSA
is not affiliated with USL or USCF. Therefore, neither USCF nor USL believes that there are any conflicts of interest with MFUSA
or its trading principals arising from its acting as USL’s FCM.
Commodity Trading Advisor
Currently, USCF
does not employ commodity trading advisors for the trading of USL contracts. USCF currently does, however, employ SummerHaven Investment
Management, LLC as a commodity trading advisor for USCF’s own account and for USCI and CPER. If, in the future, USCF employs
commodity trading advisors for USL, it will choose each advisor based on arm’s-length negotiations and will consider the advisor’s
experience, fees and reputation.
USL’s Fees and Expenses
This table
describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of USL. You should note that you may pay brokerage commissions
on purchases and sales of USL’s shares, which are not reflected in the table. Authorized Participants will pay applicable creation
and redemption fees. See “Creation and Redemption of Shares—Creation and Redemption Transaction Fee,” page 68.
Annual
Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees | |
| 0.60 | %(1) |
Distribution Fees | |
| NONE | |
Other Fund Expenses | |
| 0.25 | %(2) |
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | |
| 0.85 | % |
| (1) | USL
is contractually obligated to pay USCF a management fee equal to 0.60% per annum, which is based on its average daily
total net assets paid monthly. |
| (2) | Based
on amounts for the year ended December 31, 2022. The individual expense amounts in dollar
terms are shown in the table below. As used in this table, (i) Professional Expenses
include expenses for legal, audit, tax accounting and printing; and (ii) Independent
Director and Officer Expenses include amounts paid to independent directors and for officers’
liability insurance. |
The
table below shows the total dollar amount of fees and expenses paid by USL for the year ended December 31, 2022:
Management Fees | |
$ | 759,048 | |
Brokerage Commissions | |
$ | 16,355 | |
Professional Expenses | |
$ | 140,802 | |
License Fees | |
$ | 18,975 | |
Independent Director and Officer Expenses | |
$ | 46,961 | |
Registration Fees | |
$ | 92,130 | |
| |
| | |
These amounts are based
on USL’s average total net assets, which are the sum of daily total net assets of USL divided by the number of calendar
days in the year. For the year ended December 31, 2022, USL’s average daily total net assets were $126,508,019.
Breakeven Analysis
The breakeven
analysis below indicates the approximate dollar returns and percentage required for the redemption value of a hypothetical initial
investment in a single share to equal the amount invested twelve months after the investment was made. For purposes of this breakeven
analysis, we have assumed an initial selling price of $34.19 per share, which equals the NAV per share on February 28,
2023. In order for a hypothetical investment in shares to break even over the next 12 months, assuming a selling price of $34.19
per share, the investment would have to generate a 0.00% or $0.00 return.
This breakeven analysis refers to
the redemption of baskets by Authorized Participants and is not related to any gains an individual investor would have to achieve in
order to break even. The breakeven analysis is an approximation only. As used
in this table, (i) Professional Expenses include expenses for legal, audit, tax accounting and printing; and (ii) Independent Director
and Officer Expenses include amounts paid to independent directors and for officers’ liability insurance. You should note that
you may pay brokerage commissions on purchases and sales of the USL’s shares, which are not reflected in the table; however, USL’s
brokerage fees and commissions are included (those costs associated with rolling futures contracts).
Assumed initial selling price per share(1) | |
$ | 34.19 | |
Management Fee (0.600%)(2)
| |
$ | 0.205 | |
Creation Basket Fee (0.010%)(3) | |
$ | (0.003 | ) |
Estimated Brokerage Fee 0.013%(4) | |
$ | 0.004 | |
Interest Income (1.196%)(5) | |
$ | (0.409 | ) |
Registration Fee 0.073%(6) | |
$ | 0.025 | |
NYMEX Licensing Fee 0.015%(7) | |
$ | 0.005 | |
Independent Director and Officer Expenses (0.037%)(8) | |
$ | 0.013 | |
Professional Expenses 0.111%(9) | |
$ | 0.038 | |
Amount of trading income (loss) required for the redemption value at the end of one year to equal the initial selling price of the share(9) | |
$ | 0.00 | |
Percentage of initial selling price per share(9) | |
| 0.00 | |
| |
| | |
| (1) | In
order to show how a hypothetical investment in shares would break even over the next
12 months, this breakeven analysis uses an assumed initial selling price of $34.19 per
share, which is based on the NAV per share for USL at the close of trading on February
28, 2023. Investors should note that, because USL’s NAV changes on a daily basis,
the breakeven amount on any given day could be higher or lower than the amount reflected
here. |
| (2) | USL
is contractually obligated to pay USCF a management fee of 0.600% per annum on its average
total net assets. “Average total net assets” are the sum of the daily total
net assets of USL (the NAV of USL calculated as set forth in “Calculating Per Share
NAV” beginning on page 64) divided by the number of calendar days in the
year. On days when markets are closed, the daily total net assets are the daily total
net assets from the last day when the market was open. See page 6 for a discussion of
net assets of USL. |
| (3) | Authorized
Participants are required to pay a Creation Basket fee of $350 for each order they place
to create one or more baskets. This breakeven analysis assumes a hypothetical investment
in a single share, which would equal the $350 Creation Basket fee divided by the total
number of outstanding shares plus the 50,000 shares created by the Creation Basket. This
calculation will always result in a value that is below 0.010%, but for purposes of this
breakeven analysis we assume a creation basket fee of 0.010%. |
| (4) | This
amount is based on the actual brokerage fees for USL calculated on an annualized basis
and includes an estimated half-turn commission of $3.50. A half-turn commission is the
commissions liability related to FCM transaction fees for futures contracts on a half-turn
basis. |
| (5) | For
the year ended December 31, 2022, USL’s dividend
and interest income earned on its Treasuries, cash, and/or cash equivalents, annualized based
on its average daily total net assets was 1.196%. |
| (6) | USL
pays fees to the SEC and FINRA to register its shares for sale. This amount is based
on actual registration fees for USL calculated on an annualized basis. This fee may vary
in the future. |
| (7) | The
NYMEX License Fee is 0.015% of the aggregate net assets of USL and the Related Public
Funds, except BNO, USCI, and CPER. For more information see “USL’s Fees and Expenses.” |
| (8) | Independent
Director and Officer Expenses include amounts paid to independent directors and for officers’
liability insurance. The foregoing assumes that the average total net assets of USL as
of December 31, 2022, which were $126,508,019, were aggregated with the average total
net assets of the Related Public Funds as of December 31, 2022, that the aggregate fees
paid to the independent directors for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $1,258,000,
and that the allocable portion of the fees borne by USL based on the proportion of its
average total net assets when aggregated with the average total net assets of the Related
Public Funds equals $46,961. |
| (9) | Professional
Expenses include expenses for legal, audit, tax accounting and printing. USL’s
costs attributable to Professional Expenses for the year ended December 31, 2022 is $140,802.
The number in the break-even table assumes USL had $126,508,019 in average daily total
net assets during the calendar year ended December 31, 2022. |
Conflicts of Interest
There
are present and potential future conflicts of interest in USL’s structure and operation you should consider before you purchase
shares. USCF will use this notice of conflicts as a defense against any claim or other proceeding made. If USCF is not able to
resolve these conflicts of interest adequately, it may impact USL’s and the Related Public Funds’ ability to achieve
their investment objectives.
USL and
USCF may have inherent conflicts to the extent USCF attempts to maintain USL’s asset size in order to preserve its fee income
and this may not always be consistent with USL’s objective of having the value of its share’s NAV track changes in
the average price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts.
USCF’s
officers, directors and employees, do not devote their time exclusively to USL. These persons are directors, officers or employees
of other entities which may compete with USL for their services. They could have a conflict between their responsibilities to
USL and to those other entities.
USCF
has adopted policies that prohibit their principals, officers, directors and employees from trading futures and related contracts
in which either USL or any of the Related Public Funds invests. These policies are intended to prevent conflicts of interest occurring
where USCF, or their principals, officers, directors or employees could give preferential treatment to their own accounts or trade
their own accounts ahead of or against USL or any of the Related Public Funds.
USCF has
sole current authority to manage the investments and operations of USL, and this may allow it to act in a way that furthers its
own interests which may create a conflict with your best interests. Limited partners have limited voting control, which will limit
their ability to influence matters such as amendment of the LP Agreement, change in USL’s basic investment policy, dissolution
of USL, or the sale or distribution of USL’s assets.
USCF serves
as the general partner or sponsor to each of USL and the Related Public Funds. USCF may have a conflict to the extent that its
trading decisions for USL may be influenced by the effect they would have on the other funds it manages. By way of example, if,
as a result of reaching position limits imposed by the NYMEX, USL purchased oil futures contracts, this decision could impact
USL’s ability to purchase additional oil futures contracts if the number of contracts held by funds managed by USCF reached
the maximum allowed by the NYMEX. Similar situations could adversely affect the ability of any fund to track its benchmark futures
contract.
In addition,
USCF is required to indemnify the officers and directors of USL and the Related Public Funds, if the need for indemnification
arises. This potential indemnification will cause USCF’s assets to decrease. If USCF’s other sources of income are
not sufficient to compensate for the indemnification, then USCF may terminate and you could lose your investment.
Whenever
a conflict of interest exists or arises between USCF on the one hand, and the partnership or any limited partner, on the other
hand, any resolution or course of action by USCF in respect of such conflict of interest shall be permitted and deemed approved
by all partners and shall not constitute a breach of the LP Agreement or of any agreement contemplated hereby or of a duty stated
or implied by law or equity, if the resolution or course of action is, or by operation of the LP Agreement is deemed to be, fair
and reasonable to the partnership. If a dispute arises, under the LP Agreement it will be resolved either through negotiations
with USCF or by courts located in the State of Delaware.
Under
the LP Agreement, any resolution is deemed to be fair and reasonable to the partnership if the resolution is:
| · | approved
by the audit committee, although no party is obligated to seek approval and USCF may
adopt a resolution or course of action that has not received approval; |
| · | on
terms no less favorable to the limited partners than those generally being provided to
or available from unrelated third parties; or |
| · | fair
to the limited partners, taking into account the totality of the relationships of the
parties involved including other transactions that may be particularly favorable or advantageous
to the limited partners. |
The previous
risk factors and conflicts of interest are complete as of the date of this prospectus; however, additional risks and conflicts
may occur which are not presently foreseen by USCF. You may not construe this prospectus as legal or tax advice. Before making
an investment in USL, you should read this entire prospectus, including the LP Agreement, which can be found on USL’s website
at www.uscfinvestments.com. You should also consult with your personal legal, tax, and other professional advisors.
Interests of Named Experts
and Counsel
USCF has
employed Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP to prepare this prospectus. Neither the law firm nor any other expert hired by USL to give
advice on the preparation of this offering document has been hired on a contingent fee basis. None of them have any present or
future expectation of interest in USCF, Marketing Agent, Authorized Participants, Custodian, Administrator or other service providers
to USL.
Ownership or Beneficial
Interest in USL
As of
February 28, 2023, neither USCF nor any of the directors or executive officers of USCF own any shares of USL.
USCF’s Responsibilities
and Remedies
Pursuant
to the DRULPA (“Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act”), parties may contractually modify or even eliminate
fiduciary duties in a limited partnership agreement to the limited partnership itself, or to another partner or person otherwise
bound by the limited partnership agreement. Parties may not, however, eliminate the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
Where parties unambiguously provide for fiduciary duties in a limited partnership agreement, those expressed duties become the
standard that courts will use to determine whether such duties were breached. For this reason, the LP Agreement does not explicitly
provide for any fiduciary duties so that common law fiduciary duty principles will apply to measure USCF’s conduct.
A prospective
investor should be aware that USCF has a responsibility to limited partners of USL to exercise good faith and fairness in all
dealings. The fiduciary responsibility of USCF to limited partners is a developing and changing area of the law and limited partners
who have questions concerning the duties of USCF should consult with their counsel. In the event that a limited partner of USL
believes that USCF has violated its fiduciary duty to the limited partners, he may seek legal relief individually or on behalf
of USL under applicable laws, including under DRULPA and under commodities laws, to recover damages from or require an accounting
by USCF. Limited partners may also have the right, subject to applicable procedural and jurisdictional requirements, to bring
class actions in federal court to enforce their rights under the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated
thereunder by the SEC. Limited partners who have suffered losses in connection with the purchase or sale of the shares may be
able to recover such losses from USCF where the losses result from a violation by USCF of the federal securities laws. State securities
laws may also provide certain remedies to limited partners. Limited partners should be aware that performance by USCF of its fiduciary
duty is measured by the terms of the LP Agreement as well as applicable law. Limited partners are afforded certain rights to institute
reparations proceedings under the CEA for violations of the CEA or of any rule, regulation or order of the CFTC by USCF.
Liability and Indemnification
Under
the LP Agreement, neither a general partner nor any employee or other agent of USL nor any officer, director, stockholder, partner,
employee or agent of a general partner (a “Protected Person”) shall be liable to any partner or USL for any mistake
of judgment or for any action or inaction taken, nor for any losses due to any mistake of judgment or to any action or inaction
or to the negligence, dishonesty or bad faith of any officer, director, stockholder, partner, employee, agent of USL or any officer,
director, stockholder, partner, employee or agent of such general partner, provided that such officer, director, stockholder,
partner, employee, or agent of the partner or officer, director, stockholder, partner, employee or agent of such general partner
was selected, engaged or retained by such general partner with reasonable care, except with respect to any matter as to which
such general partner shall have been finally adjudicated in any action, suit or other proceeding not to have acted in good faith
in the reasonable belief that such Protected Person’s action was in the best interests of USL and except that no Protected
Person shall be relieved of any liability to which such Protected Person would otherwise be subject by reason of willful misfeasance,
gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of the Protected Person’s office.
USL shall,
to the fullest extent permitted by law, but only out of USL assets, indemnify and hold harmless a general partner and each officer,
director, stockholder, partner, employee or agent thereof (including persons who serve at USL’s request as directors, officers
or trustees of another organization in which USL has an interest as a shareholder, creditor or otherwise) and their respective
Legal Representatives and successors (hereinafter referred to as a “Covered Person”) against all liabilities and expenses,
including but not limited to amounts paid in satisfaction of judgments, in compromise or as fines and penalties, and counsel fees
reasonably incurred by any Covered Person in connection with the defense or disposition of any action, suit or other proceedings,
whether civil or criminal, before any court or administrative or legislative body, in which such Covered Person may be or may
have been involved as a party or otherwise or with which such person may be or may have been threatened, while in office or thereafter,
by reason of an alleged act or omission as a general partner or director or officer thereof, or by reason of its being or having
been such a general partner, director or officer, except with respect to any matter as to which such Covered Person shall have
been finally adjudicated in any such action, suit or other proceeding not to have acted in good faith in the reasonable belief
that such Covered Person’s action was in the best interest of USL, and except that no Covered Person shall be indemnified
against any liability to USL or limited partners to which such Covered Person would otherwise be subject by reason of willful
misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of such Covered Person’s
office. Expenses, including counsel fees so incurred by any such Covered Person, may be paid from time to time by USL in advance
of the final disposition of any such action, suit or proceeding on the condition that the amounts so paid shall be repaid to USL
if it is ultimately determined that the indemnification of such expenses is not authorized hereunder.
Meetings
Meetings
of limited partners may be called by USCF and may be called by it upon the written request of limited partners holding at least
20% of the outstanding shares of USL. USCF shall deposit written notice to all limited partners of the meeting and the purpose
of the meeting, which shall be held on a date not less than 30 nor more than 60 days after the date of mailing of such notice,
at a reasonable time and place. USCF may also call a meeting upon not less than 20 and not more than 60 days prior notice.
Each limited
partner appoints USCF and each of its authorized officers as its attorney-in-fact with full power and authority in its name, place
and stead to execute, swear to, acknowledge, deliver, file and record all ballots, consents, approval waivers, certificates and
other instruments necessary or appropriate, in the sole discretion of USCF, to make, evidence, give, confirm or ratify any vote,
consent, approval, agreement or other action that is made or given by the partner of USL. However, when the LP Agreement establishes
a percentage of the limited partners required to take any action, USCF may exercise such power of attorney made only after the
necessary vote, consent or approval of the limited partners.
Termination Events
USL will
dissolve at any time upon the happening of any of the following events:
| · | The
bankruptcy, dissolution, withdrawal, or removal of USCF, unless a majority in interest
of the limited partners within 90 days after such event elects to continue USL and appoints
a successor general partner; or |
| · | The
affirmative vote of a majority in interest of the limited partners, provided that prior
to or concurrently with such vote, there shall have been established procedures for the
assumption of USL’s obligations arising under any agreement to which USL is a party
and which is still in force immediately prior to such vote regarding termination, and
there shall have been an irrevocable appointment of an agent who shall be empowered to
give and receive notices, reports and payments under such agreements, and hold and exercise
such other powers as are necessary to permit all other parties to such agreements to
deal with such agent as if the agent were the sole owner of USL’s interest, which
procedures are agreed to in writing by each of the other parties to such agreements. |
Provisions of Law
According
to applicable law, indemnification of USCF is payable only if USCF determined, in good faith, that the act, omission or conduct
that gave rise to the claim for indemnification was in the best interest of USL and the act, omission or activity that was the
basis for such loss, liability, damage, cost or expense was not the result of negligence or misconduct and such liability or loss
was not the result of negligence or misconduct by USCF, and such indemnification or agreement to hold harmless is recoverable
only out of the assets of USL and not from the members, individually.
Provisions of Federal
and State Securities Laws
This
offering is made pursuant to federal and applicable state securities laws. The SEC and state securities agencies take the position
that indemnification of USCF that arises out of an alleged violation of such laws is prohibited unless certain conditions are
met.
Those
conditions require that no indemnification of USCF or any underwriter for USL may be made in respect of any losses, liabilities
or expenses arising from or out of an alleged violation of federal or state securities laws unless: (i) there has been a successful
adjudication on the merits of each count involving alleged securities law violations as to the party seeking indemnification and
the court approves the indemnification; (ii) such claim has been dismissed with prejudice on the merits by a court of competent
jurisdiction as to the party seeking indemnification; or (iii) a court of competent jurisdiction approves a settlement of the
claims against the party seeking indemnification and finds that indemnification of the settlement and related costs should be
made, provided that, before seeking such approval, USCF or other indemnitee must apprise the court of the position held by regulatory
agencies against such indemnification. These agencies are the SEC and the securities administrator of the State or States in which
the plaintiffs claim they were offered or sold membership interests.
Provisions of the 1933
Act and NASAA Guidelines
Insofar
as indemnification for liabilities arising under the 1933 Act may be permitted to USCF or its directors, officers, or persons
controlling USL, USL has been informed that the SEC and the various state administrators believe that such indemnification is
against public policy as expressed in the 1933 Act and the North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc. (“NASAA”)
commodity pool guidelines and is therefore unenforceable.
Books and Records
USL keeps its
books of record and account at the office of USCF located at 1850 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Suite 640, Walnut Creek, California 94596 or
at the offices of the Administrator at its office located at 240 Greenwich Street, New York, New York, 10286, or such office,
including of an administrative agent, as it may subsequently designate upon notice. These books and records are open to inspection by
any person who establishes to USL’s satisfaction that such person is a limited partner upon reasonable advance notice at all reasonable
times during the usual business hours of USL.
USL keeps
a copy of the LP Agreement on file in its office which is available for inspection on reasonable advance notice at all reasonable
times during its usual business hours by any limited partner.
Statements, Filings, and
Reports
At the end of
each fiscal year, USL will furnish to banks, broker dealers and trust companies (“DTC Participants”) for distribution to
each person who is a shareholder at the end of the fiscal year an annual report containing USL’s audited financial statements and
other information about USL. USCF is responsible for the registration and qualification of the shares under the federal securities laws
and federal commodities laws and any other securities and blue-sky laws of the United States or any other jurisdiction as USCF may select.
USCF is responsible for preparing all reports required by the SEC, CFTC, and the NYSE Arca, but has entered into an agreement
with the Administrator to prepare these reports as required by the SEC, CFTC and the NYSE Arca on USL’s behalf.
The financial
statements of USL will be audited, as required by law and as may be directed by USCF, by an independent registered public accounting
firm designated from time to time by USCF. The accountants report will be furnished by USL to shareholders upon request. USL will
make such elections, file such tax returns, and prepare, disseminate and file such tax reports, as it is advised by its counsel
or accountants are from time to time required by any applicable statute, rule or regulation.
Reports to Limited Partners
In addition
to periodic reports filed with the SEC, including annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports
on Form 8-K, all of which can be accessed on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or on USL’s website at www.uscfinvestments.com,
USL, pursuant to the LP Agreement, will provide the following reports to limited partners in the manner prescribed below:
Annual
Reports. Within 90 days after the end of each fiscal year, USCF shall cause to be delivered to each limited partner who was
a limited partner at any time during the fiscal year, an annual report containing the following:
| (i) | financial
statements of the partnership, including, without limitation, a balance sheet as of the
end of the partnership’s fiscal year and statements of income, partners’
equity and changes in financial position, for such fiscal year, which shall be prepared
in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America
consistently applied and shall be audited by a firm of independent certified public accountants
registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; |
| (ii) | a
general description of the activities of the partnership during the period covered by
the report; and |
| (iii) | a
report of any material transactions between the partnership and USCF or any of its affiliates,
including fees or compensation paid by the partnership and the services performed by
USCF or any such affiliate for such fees or compensation. |
Quarterly
Reports. Within 45 days after the end of each quarter of each fiscal year, USCF shall cause to be delivered to each limited
partner who was a limited partner at any time during the quarter then ended, a quarterly report containing a balance sheet and
statement of income for the period covered by the report, each of which may be unaudited but shall be certified by USCF as fairly
presenting the financial position and results of operations of the partnership during the period covered by the report. The report
shall also contain a description of any material event regarding the business of the partnership during the period covered by
the report.
Monthly
Reports. Within 30 days after the end of each month, USCF shall cause to be posted on its website and upon request, to be
delivered to each limited partner who was a limited partner at any time during the month then ended, a monthly report containing
an account statement, which will include a statement of income (loss) and a statement of changes in NAV, for the prescribed period.
In addition, the account statement will disclose any material business dealings between the partnership, USCF, commodity trading
advisor (if any), FCMs, or the principals thereof that previously have not been disclosed in this prospectus or any amendment
thereto, other account statements or annual reports.
USL will provide
information to its shareholders to the extent required by applicable SEC, CFTC, and NYSE Arca requirements. An issuer, such as USL, of
exchange-traded securities may not always readily know the identities of the investors who own those securities. USL will post the same
information that would otherwise be provided in USL’s reports to limited partners described above including its monthly account
statements, which will include, without limitation, USL’s NAV, on USL’s website at www.uscfinvestments.com.
Fiscal Year
The fiscal
year of USL is the calendar year. USCF may select an alternate fiscal year.
Governing Law; Consent
to Delaware Jurisdiction
The rights
of USCF, USL, DTC (as registered owner of USL’s global certificate for shares) and the shareholders, are governed by the
laws of the State of Delaware. USCF, USL and DTC and, by accepting shares, each DTC Participant and each shareholder, consent
to the jurisdiction of the courts of the State of Delaware and any federal courts located in Delaware. Such consent is not required
for any person to assert a claim of Delaware jurisdiction over USCF or USL.
Legal Matters
Litigation and Claims
From time
to time, USL may be involved in legal proceedings arising primarily from the ordinary course of its business. USL is not currently party
to any material legal proceedings. In addition, USCF, as the general partner of USL and the Related Public Funds may, from time to time,
be involved in litigation arising out of its operations in the ordinary course of business. Except as described herein, USCF is not currently
party to any material legal proceedings.
Optimum Strategies Action
On April
6, 2022, USO and USCF were named as defendants in an action filed by Optimum Strategies Fund I, LP, a purported investor in call
option contracts on USO (the “Optimum Strategies Action”). The action is pending in the U.S. District Court for the
District of Connecticut at Civil Action No. 3:22-cv-00511.
The Optimum
Strategies Action asserts claims under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “1934 Act”), Rule 10b-5
thereunder, and the Connecticut Uniform Securities Act (“CUSA”). It purports to challenge statements in registration
statements that became effective in February 2020, March 2020, and on April 20, 2020, as well as public statements between February
2020 and May 2020, in connection with certain extraordinary market conditions and the attendant risks that caused the demand for
oil to fall precipitously, including the COVID-19 global pandemic and the Saudi Arabia-Russia oil price war. The complaint seeks
damages, interest, costs, attorney’s fees, and equitable relief.
USCF
and USO intend to vigorously contest such claims and have moved for their dismissal. On March 15, 2023, the Court issued
a decision granting defendants’ motion to dismiss, with prejudice as to the Exchange Act claims and without prejudice as
to the CUSA claim.
Settlement of SEC and CFTC
Investigations
On November
8, 2021, USCF and USO announced a resolution with each of the SEC and the CFTC relating to matters set forth in certain Wells
Notices issued by the staffs of each of the SEC and CFTC as more fully described below. On August 17, 2020, USCF, USO, and John
Love received a “Wells Notice” from the staff of the SEC (the “SEC Wells Notice”). The SEC Wells Notice
stated that the SEC staff made a preliminary determination to recommend that the SEC file an enforcement action against USCF,
USO, and Mr. Love alleging violations of Sections 17(a)(1) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933
Act”), and Section 10(b) of the 1934 Act, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.
Subsequently,
on August 19, 2020, USCF, USO, and Mr. Love received a Wells Notice from the staff of the CFTC (the “CFTC Wells Notice”).
The CFTC Wells Notice stated that the CFTC staff made a preliminary determination to recommend that the CFTC file an enforcement
action against USCF, USO, and Mr. Love alleging violations of Sections 4o(1)(A) and (B) and 6(c)(1) of the Commodity Exchange
Act of 1936, as amended (the “CEA”), 7 U.S.C. §§ 6o(1)(A) and (B) and 9(1) (2018), and CFTC Regulations
4.26, 4.41, and 180.1(a), 17 C.F.R. §§ 4.26, 4.41, 180.1(a) (2019).
On November
8, 2021, acting pursuant to an offer of settlement submitted by USCF and USO, the SEC issued an order instituting cease-and-desist
proceedings, making findings, and imposing a cease-and-desist order pursuant to Section 8A of the 1933 Act, directing USCF and
USO to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations of Section 17(a)(3) of the 1933 Act, 15 U.S.C. § 77q(a)(3)
(the “SEC Order”). In the SEC Order, the SEC made findings that, from April 24, 2020 to May 21, 2020, USCF and USO
violated Section 17(a)(3) of 1933 Act, which provides that it is “unlawful for any person in the offer or sale of any securities
to engage in any transaction, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon the purchaser.”
USCF and USO consented to entry of the SEC Order without admitting or denying the findings contained therein, except as to jurisdiction.
Separately,
on November 8, 2021, acting pursuant to an offer of settlement submitted by USCF, the CFTC issued an order instituting cease-and-desist
proceedings, making findings, and imposing a cease-and-desist order pursuant to Section 6(c) and (d) of the CEA, directing USCF
to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations of Section 4o(1)(B) of the CEA, 7 U.S.C. § 6o(1) (B), and CFTC
Regulation 4.41(a)(2), 17 C.F.R. § 4.41(a)(2) (the “CFTC Order”). In the CFTC Order, the CFTC made findings that,
from on or about April 22, 2020 to June 12, 2020, USCF violated Section 4o(1)(B) of the CEA and CFTC Regulation 4.41(a)(2), which
make it unlawful for any commodity pool operator (“CPO”) to engage in “any transaction, practice, or course
of business which operates as a fraud or deceit upon any client or participant or prospective client or participant” and
prohibit a CPO from advertising in a manner which “operates as a fraud or deceit upon any client or participant or prospective
client or participant,” respectively. USCF consented to entry of the CFTC Order without admitting or denying the findings
contained therein, except as to jurisdiction.
Pursuant
to the SEC Order and the CFTC Order, in addition to the command to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations
of Section 17(a)(3) of the 1933 Act, Section 4o(1)(B) of the CEA, and CFTC Regulation 4.14(a)(2), civil monetary penalties totaling
two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) in the aggregate were required to be paid to the SEC and CFTC, of which
one million two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($1,250,000) was paid by USCF to each of the SEC and the CFTC, respectively, pursuant
to the offsets permitted under the orders.
In
re: United States Oil Fund, LP Securities Litigation
On June
19, 2020, USCF, USO, John P. Love, and Stuart P. Crumbaugh were named as defendants in a putative class action filed by purported
shareholder Robert Lucas (the “Lucas Class Action”). The Court thereafter consolidated the Lucas Class Action with
two related putative class actions filed on July 31, 2020 and August 13, 2020, and appointed a lead plaintiff. The consolidated
class action is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York under the caption In re: United States
Oil Fund, LP Securities Litigation, Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-04740.
On November
30, 2020, the lead plaintiff filed an amended complaint (the “Amended Lucas Class Complaint”). The Amended Lucas Class
Complaint asserts claims under the 1933 Act, the 1934 Act, and Rule 10b-5. The Amended Lucas Class Complaint challenges statements
in registration statements that became effective on February 25, 2020 and March 23, 2020 as well as subsequent public statements
through April 2020 concerning certain extraordinary market conditions and the attendant risks that caused the demand for oil to
fall precipitously, including the COVID-19 global pandemic and the Saudi Arabia-Russia oil price war. The Amended Lucas Class
Complaint purports to have been brought by an investor in USO on behalf of a class of similarly-situated shareholders who purchased
USO securities between February 25, 2020 and April 28, 2020 and pursuant to the challenged registration statements. The Amended
Lucas Class Complaint seeks to certify a class and to award the class compensatory damages at an amount to be determined at trial
as well as costs and attorney’s fees. The Amended Lucas Class Complaint named as defendants USCF, USO, John P. Love, Stuart
P. Crumbaugh, Nicholas D. Gerber, Andrew F Ngim, Robert L. Nguyen, Peter M. Robinson, Gordon L. Ellis, and Malcolm R. Fobes III,
as well as the marketing agent, ALPS Distributors, Inc., and the Authorized Participants: ABN Amro, BNP Paribas Securities Corporation,
Citadel Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Credit Suisse Securities USA LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Goldman
Sachs & Company, J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corporation, Morgan Stanley & Company
Inc., Nomura Securities International Inc., RBC Capital Markets LLC, SG Americas Securities LLC, UBS Securities LLC, and Virtu
Financial BD LLC.
The lead
plaintiff has filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of its claims against BNP Paribas Securities Corporation, Citadel Securities
LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Suisse Securities USA LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Morgan Stanley & Company,
Inc., Nomura Securities International, Inc., RBC Capital Markets, LLC, SG Americas Securities LLC, and UBS Securities LLC.
USCF,
USO, and the individual defendants in In re: United States Oil Fund, LP Securities Litigation intend to vigorously contest
such claims and have moved for their dismissal.
Wang
Class Action
On July
10, 2020, purported shareholder Momo Wang filed a putative class action complaint, individually and on behalf of others similarly
situated, against defendants USO, USCF, John P. Love, Stuart P. Crumbaugh, Nicholas D. Gerber, Andrew F. Ngim, Robert L. Nguyen,
Peter M. Robinson, Gordon L. Ellis, Malcolm R. Fobes, III, ABN Amro, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citadel Securities LLC, Citigroup
Global Markets Inc., Credit Suisse Securities USA LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Goldman Sachs & Company, JP Morgan Securities
Inc., Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp., Morgan Stanley & Company Inc., Nomura Securities International Inc., RBC
Capital Markets LLC, SG Americas Securities LLC, UBS Securities LLC, and Virtu Financial BD LLC, in the U.S. District Court for
the Northern District of California as Civil Action No. 3:20-cv-4596 (the “Wang Class Action”).
The Wang
Class Action asserted federal securities claims under the 1933 Act, challenging disclosures in a March 19, 2020 registration statement.
It alleged that the defendants failed to disclose to investors in USO certain extraordinary market conditions and the attendant
risks that caused the demand for oil to fall precipitously, including the COVID-19 global pandemic and the Saudi Arabia-Russia
oil price war. The Wang Class Action was voluntarily dismissed on August 4, 2020.
Mehan
Action
On August
10, 2020, purported shareholder Darshan Mehan filed a derivative action on behalf of nominal defendant USO, against defendants
USCF, John P. Love, Stuart P. Crumbaugh, Nicholas D. Gerber, Andrew F Ngim, Robert L. Nguyen, Peter M. Robinson, Gordon L. Ellis,
and Malcolm R. Fobes, III (the “Mehan Action”). The action is pending in the Superior Court of the State of California
for the County of Alameda as Case No. RG20070732.
The Mehan
Action alleges that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties to USO and failed to act in good faith in connection with a
March 19, 2020 registration statement and offering and disclosures regarding certain extraordinary market conditions that caused
demand for oil to fall precipitously, including the COVID-19 global pandemic and the Saudi Arabia-Russia oil price war. The complaint
seeks, on behalf of USO, compensatory damages, restitution, equitable relief, attorney’s fees, and costs. All proceedings
in the Mehan Action are stayed pending disposition of the motion(s) to dismiss in In re: United States Oil Fund, LP Securities
Litigation.
USCF,
USO, and the other defendants intend to vigorously contest such claims.
In
re United States Oil Fund, LP Derivative Litigation
On August
27, 2020, purported shareholders Michael Cantrell and AML Pharm. Inc. DBA Golden International filed two separate derivative actions
on behalf of nominal defendant USO, against defendants USCF, John P. Love, Stuart P. Crumbaugh, Andrew F Ngim, Gordon L. Ellis,
Malcolm R. Fobes, III, Nicholas D. Gerber, Robert L. Nguyen, and Peter M. Robinson in the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York at Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-06974 (the “Cantrell Action”) and Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-06981
(the “AML Action”), respectively.
The complaints
in the Cantrell and AML Actions are nearly identical. They each allege violations of Sections 10(b), 20(a) and 21D of the 1934
Act, Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and common law claims of breach of fiduciary duties, unjust enrichment, abuse of control, gross mismanagement,
and waste of corporate assets. These allegations stem from USO’s disclosures and defendants’ alleged actions in light
of the extraordinary market conditions in 2020 that caused demand for oil to fall precipitously, including the COVID-19 global
pandemic and the Saudi Arabia-Russia oil price war. The complaints seek, on behalf of USO, compensatory damages, restitution,
equitable relief, attorney’s fees, and costs. The plaintiffs in the Cantrell and AML Actions have marked their actions as
related to the Lucas Class Action.
The Court
consolidated the Cantrell and AML Actions under the caption In re United States Oil Fund, LP Derivative Litigation, Civil
Action No. 1:20-cv-06974 and appointed co-lead counsel. All proceedings in In re United States Oil Fund, LP Derivative Litigation
are stayed pending disposition of the motion(s) to dismiss in In re: United States Oil Fund, LP Securities Litigation.
USCF,
USO, and the other defendants intend to vigorously contest the claims in In re United States Oil Fund, LP Derivative Litigation.
Legal Opinion
Eversheds
Sutherland (US) LLP is counsel to and advises USL and USCF with respect to the shares being offered hereby and has passed upon
the validity of the shares being issued hereunder. Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP has also provided USCF with its opinion with
respect to federal income tax matters addressed herein.
Experts
Spicer Jeffries
LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, has audited the statements of financial condition of USL as of December 31, 2022
and December 31, 2021, including the schedule of investments as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, and the related statements
of operations, changes in partners’ capital and cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020, that appear
in the annual report on Form 10-K that is incorporated by reference. The financial statements of USL in the Form 10-K were included therein
in reliance upon the report of Spicer Jeffries LLP dated March 1, 2023, given on its authority of such firm as experts in accounting
and auditing.
Material U.S. Federal Income
Tax Considerations
The following
discussion summarizes the material U.S. federal income tax consequences of the purchase, ownership and disposition of shares in USL,
and the U.S. federal income tax treatment of USL, as of the date hereof. In general, this discussion is applicable to a shareholder
who holds its shares as a capital asset. This summary does not purport to be a complete description of the income tax considerations
applicable to an investment in shares. For example, we have not described tax consequences that may be relevant to certain types of shareholders
subject to special treatment under United States federal income tax laws, including dealers or traders in securities, commodities
or currencies, financial institutions, tax-exempt entities, insurance companies, persons holding shares as a part of a position in
a “straddle” or as part of a “hedging,” “conversion” or other integrated transaction for U.S. federal
income tax purposes, or holders of shares whose “functional currency” is not the U.S. dollar. Furthermore, the discussion
below is based upon the provisions of the Code and U.S. Treasury Regulations, rulings and judicial decisions thereunder as of the date
hereof, and such authorities may be repealed, revoked or modified (possibly with retroactive effect) so as to result in U.S. federal
income tax consequences different from those discussed below.
Investors
considering the purchase, ownership or disposition of shares should consult their own tax advisors concerning the U.S. federal
income tax consequences in light of their particular situations as well as any consequences arising under the laws of any other
taxing jurisdiction.
As used herein,
a “U.S. shareholder” is a beneficial owner of a share that is for U.S. federal income tax purposes: (i) an individual who
is a citizen or resident of the United States; (ii) a corporation (or other entity treated as a corporation) created or organized
in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof, or the District of Columbia; (iii) an estate the income of which is subject
to U.S. federal income tax, regardless of its source; or (iv) a trust (x) the administration of which is subject to the primary
supervision of a U.S. court and one or more “United States persons” (within the meaning of the Code) have the authority to
control all substantial decisions of the trust, or (y) that has made a valid election under applicable U.S. Treasury Regulations to be
treated as a “United States person” (within the meaning of the Code). A “non-U.S. shareholder” generally is a
beneficial owner of a share that is neither a U.S. shareholder nor a partnership (or other entity or arrangement treated
as a partnership) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If a partnership (or other entity or arrangement treated as a partnership
for U.S. federal income tax purposes) holds our shares, the U.S. federal income tax treatment of a partner will generally depend upon
the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. A partnership, or a partner of a partnership, holding our shares should
consult his, her, or its own tax advisor regarding the U.S. federal income tax consequences of investing in our shares.
USCF, on behalf
of USL, has received the opinion of Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP, counsel to USL, that the material U.S. federal income tax consequences
to USL and to U.S. shareholders and non-U.S. shareholders will be as described below. In rendering its opinion, Eversheds Sutherland
(US) LLP has relied on the facts and assumptions described in this prospectus as well as certain factual representations
made by USL and USCF. The opinion of Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP is not binding on the IRS, and as a result, the IRS may not agree
with the U.S. federal income tax positions taken by USL. If challenged by the IRS, USL’s U.S. federal income tax
positions might not be sustained by the courts. No ruling has been requested from the IRS with respect to any matter affecting USL or
prospective investors.
INVESTORS CONSIDERING THE PURCHASE
OF SHARES SHOULD CONSULT WITH THEIR OWN TAX ADVISORS REGARDING THE APPLICATION OF U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX LAWS TO THEIR PARTICULAR
SITUATIONS AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF U.S. FEDERAL ESTATE OR GIFT TAX LAWS, STATE, LOCAL AND FOREIGN LAWS, AND TAX TREATIES.
U.S. Federal Income Tax
Status of USL
USL is organized
and operated as a limited partnership in accordance with the provisions of the LP Agreement and applicable state law, and is treated
as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. In addition, the trading of shares on the NYSE Arca will cause UGA to be classified
as a “publicly traded partnership” for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Under the Code, a publicly traded partnership
generally is taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The Code provides an exception to this general
rule for a publicly traded partnership whose gross income for each taxable year of its existence consists of at least 90% “qualifying
income” (the “qualifying income exception”). For this purpose,Code section 7704 defines “qualifying income”
as including, in pertinent part, interest (other than from a financial business), dividends and gains from the sale or disposition of
capital assets held for the production of interest or dividends. In addition, in the case of a partnership a principal activity of which
is the buying and selling of commodities (other than as inventory) or of futures, forwards and options with respect to commodities, “qualifying
income” includes income and gain from such commodities and futures, forwards and options with respect to commodities. USL and USCF
have represented, among other items, the following to Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP:
| · | At
least 90% of USL’s gross income for each taxable year will constitute “qualifying
income” within the meaning of Code section 7704 (as described above); |
| · | USL
is organized and operated in accordance with its governing agreements and applicable
law; |
| · | USL (i) has not registered, and will not register, under the Investment
Company Act of 1940, as amended, as a management company or unit investment trust, and (ii) has not elected, and will not elect to be
treated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended; |
| · | USL
has not elected, and will not elect, to be classified as a corporation for U.S. federal
income tax purposes. |
Based
in part on these representations, Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP is of the opinion that USL will be classified as a partnership
for U.S. federal income tax purposes and that it is not taxable as a corporation for such purposes. USL’s taxation as a
partnership rather than a corporation will require USCF to conduct USL’s business activities in such a manner that it satisfies
the qualifying income exception on a continuing basis. No assurance can be given that USL’s operations for any given year
will produce income that satisfies the requirements of the qualifying income exception. Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP will not
review USL’s ongoing compliance with these requirements and will have no obligation to advise USL or USL’s shareholders
in the event of any subsequent change in the facts, representations or applicable law relied upon in reaching its opinion.
If USL failed
to satisfy the qualifying income exception in any year, other than a failure that is determined by the IRS to be inadvertent and that
is cured within a reasonable time after discovery, USL would be taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes and would
be subject to U.S. federal income tax imposed at the applicable corporate flat rate of 21%. In that event, shareholders
would not report their share of USL’s income or loss on their U.S. federal income tax returns. In addition, distributions
to shareholders would be treated as dividends to the extent of USL’s current and accumulated earnings and profits. Subject to holding
period and other requirements, any such dividend to a non-corporate distributee may be a qualified dividend that is subject
to U.S. federal income tax at the lower maximum U.S. federal income tax rates applicable to long-term capital gains, and corporate
distributees may be eligible for the dividends received deduction. To the extent a distribution exceeded USL’s current and
accumulated earnings and profits, the distribution would be treated as a return of capital to the extent of a shareholder’s adjusted
tax basis in its shares, and would reduce the shareholder’s adjusted tax basis in its shares accordingly (but not below zero), and
to the extent that the amount of the distribution exceeded the shareholder’s adjusted tax basis in its shares, such excess
is treated as gain from the sale or exchange of property. Accordingly, if USL were to be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal
income tax purposes, such treatment would likely have a material adverse effect on the economic return from an investment in USL
and on the value of the shares.
The remainder
of this summary assumes that USL is classified as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and not taxable as a corporation.
U.S. Shareholders
U.S. Federal Income Tax
Consequences of Ownership of Shares
Taxation of
USL’s Income. No U.S. federal income tax is paid by USL on its income. Instead, USL files annual information returns, and each
U.S. shareholder is required to report on its U.S. federal income tax return its allocable share of the income, gain, loss, deduction,
and credit of USL. For example, shareholders must take into account their share of ordinary income realized by USL from accruals of interest
on Treasuries and other investments, and their share of gain from Oil Interests. These items must be reported by the applicable shareholder
without regard to the amount (if any) of cash or property the shareholder receives as a distribution from USL during the taxable
year. Consequently, a shareholder may be allocated income or gain by USL but receive no cash distribution with which to pay its tax liability
resulting from the allocation, or may receive a distribution that is insufficient to pay such liability. Because USCF currently does
not intend to make distributions, it is likely that in any year USL realizes net income and/or gain that a U.S. shareholder will
be required to pay taxes on its allocable share of such income or gain from sources other than USL distributions.
Allocations
of USL’s Profit and Loss. Under Code section 704, the determination of a partner’s distributive share of any item of
income, gain, loss, deduction or credit is governed by the applicable organizational document unless the allocation provided by such
document lacks “substantial economic effect.” An allocation that lacks substantial economic effect nonetheless will be respected
if it is in accordance with the partners’ interests in the partnership, determined by taking into account all facts and circumstances
relating to the economic arrangements among the partners. Subject to the discussion below concerning certain conventions to be used by
USL, allocations of USL income pursuant to the LP Agreement should be considered as having substantial economic effect or as being in
accordance with a shareholder’s interest in USL.
Allocations
of USL’s Profit and Loss. Under Code section 704, the determination of a partner’s distributive share of any item
of income, gain, loss, deduction or credit is governed by the applicable organizational document unless the allocation provided
by such document lacks “substantial economic effect.” An allocation that lacks substantial economic effect nonetheless
will be respected if it is in accordance with the partners’ interests in the partnership, determined by taking into account
all facts and circumstances relating to the economic arrangements among the partners. Subject to the discussion below concerning
certain conventions to be used by USL, allocations of USL income pursuant to the LP Agreement should be considered as having substantial
economic effect or as being in accordance with a shareholder’s interest in USL.
In general,
USL applies a monthly closing-of-the-books convention in determining allocations of economic profit or loss to shareholders. Income,
gain, loss and deduction are determined on a monthly “mark-to-market” basis, taking into account accrued income and
deductions and realized and unrealized gains and losses for the month. Items of taxable income, deduction, gain, loss and credit
recognized by USL for U.S. federal income tax purposes for any taxable year are allocated among holders in a manner that equitably
reflects the allocation of economic profit or loss.
Under the monthly
allocation convention used by USL, an investor who holds a share as of the close of business on the last trading day of the previous
month will be treated for purposes of making allocations as if it owned the share throughout the current month even if such investor
disposes of such share during the current month. For example, an investor who buys a share on April 10 of a year and sells it on May
20 of the same year will be allocated all of the tax items attributable to May (because the investor is deemed to hold the
share through the last day of May), but will not be allocated any of the tax items attributable to April. The tax items attributable
to that share for April will be allocated to the person who is the actual or deemed holder of the share as of the close of business on
the last trading day of March.
Under
the monthly convention, an investor who purchases and sells a share during the same month, and therefore does not hold (and is
not deemed to hold) the share at the close of business on the last trading day of either that month or the previous month, will
receive no allocations with respect to that share for any period. Accordingly, investors may receive no allocations with respect
to shares that they actually held, or may receive allocations with respect to shares attributable to periods that they did not
actually hold the shares.
By investing in shares, a U.S. shareholder agrees that, in the absence
of new legislation, regulatory or administrative guidance, or judicial rulings to the contrary, it will file its U.S. federal income tax
returns in a manner that is consistent with the monthly allocation convention as described above and with the IRS Schedules K-1, K-3,
or any successor form provided to shareholders by USL.
USL
applies certain conventions in determining and allocating items for tax purposes in order to reduce the complexity and costs
of administration. USCF believes that application of these conventions is consistent with the intent of the partnership
provisions of the Code and the applicable Treasury Regulations, and that the resulting allocations should have
substantial economic effect or otherwise should be respected as being in accordance with shareholders’ interests in USL
for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The Code and existing U.S. Treasury Regulations do not expressly permit adoption
of these conventions, although the monthly allocation convention described above is consistent with methods permitted under
the applicable Treasury Regulations, as well as the legislative history for the provisions that require allocations to
appropriately reflect changes in ownership interests. It is possible that the IRS could successfully challenge USL’s
allocations conventions on the ground that they do not satisfy the technical requirements of the Code or U.S. Treasury
Regulations, requiring a shareholder to report a greater or lesser share of items of income, gain, loss, deduction, or
credit than if our conventions were respected. USCF is authorized to revise our allocation method to conform to the
requirements of future U.S. Treasury Regulations.
The assumptions
and conventions used in making tax allocations may cause a shareholder to be allocated more or less income or loss for U.S. federal
income tax purposes than its proportionate share of the economic income or loss realized by USL during the period it held its
shares. This “mismatch” between taxable and economic income or loss in some cases may be temporary, reversing itself
in a later period when the shares are sold, but could be permanent.
Section 754
Election. USL has made the election permitted by section 754 of the Code, which election is irrevocable without the consent
of the IRS. The effect of this election is that, in connection with secondary market sales, USL adjusts the purchaser’s
proportionate share of the adjusted tax basis of its assets to fair market value, as reflected in the price paid for the shares,
as if the purchaser had directly acquired an interest in our assets. The section 754 election is intended to eliminate disparities between
a partner’s adjusted tax basis in its partnership interest and its share of the adjusted tax bases of the partnership’s
assets, so that the partner’s allocable share of taxable gain or loss on a disposition of an asset will correspond to its share
of the appreciation or depreciation in the value of the asset since it acquired its interest. Depending on the price paid for shares
and the adjusted tax bases of USL’s assets at the time of the purchase, the effect of the section 754 election on a purchaser
of shares may be favorable or unfavorable. In order to make the appropriate basis adjustments in a cost-effective manner, USL will use
certain simplifying conventions and assumptions. It is possible the IRS will successfully assert that the conventions and assumptions
applied are improper and require different basis adjustments to be made, which could adversely affect some shareholders.
Mark-to-Market
of Certain Exchange-Traded Contracts. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, USL generally is required to use a “mark-to-market”
method of accounting under which unrealized gains and losses on instruments constituting “section 1256 contracts”
are recognized currently. A section 1256 contract is defined as: (1) a futures contract that is traded on or subject to the rules
of a national securities exchange which is registered with the SEC, a domestic board of trade designated as a contract market
by the CFTC, or any other board of trade or exchange designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, and with respect to which the
amount required to be deposited and the amount that may be withdrawn depends on a system of “marking-to-market”; (2)
a forward contract on exchange-traded foreign currencies, where the contracts are traded in the interbank market; (3) a non-equity
option traded on or subject to the rules of a qualified board or exchange; (4) a dealer equity option; or (5) a dealer securities
futures contract.
Under these rules,
section 1256 contracts held by USL at the end of each taxable year, including, for example, Futures Contracts and options on Futures
Contracts traded on a U.S. exchange or board of trade or certain foreign exchanges, are treated as if they were sold for their fair market
value on the last business day of the taxable year (i.e. are “marked to market”). In addition, any net gain or loss realized
from a disposition, termination or marking to market of a section 1256 contract generally is treated as long-term capital gain or
loss to the extent of 60% thereof, and as short-term capital gain or loss to the extent of 40% thereof, without regard
to the actual holding period (“60-40 treatment”).
Many of
USL’s Futures Contracts and some of their other commodity interests will qualify as “section 1256 contracts”
under the Code. Gain or loss recognized through disposition, termination or marking-to-market of USL’s section 1256 contracts
will be subject to 60-40 treatment and allocated to shareholders in accordance with the monthly allocation convention. Cleared
swaps and other commodity swaps will likely not qualify as section 1256 contracts. If a commodity swap is not treated as a section
1256 contract, any gain or loss on the swap recognized at the time of disposition or termination will be long-term or short-term
capital gain or loss depending on the holding period of the swap.
Limitations
on Deductibility of Losses and Certain Expenses. A number of different provisions of the Code may defer or disallow the deduction
of losses or expenses allocated to you by USL, including, but not limited to, those described below.
A shareholder’s
deduction of its allocable share of any loss of USL is limited to the lesser of (1) the adjusted tax basis in its shares or (2) in the
case of a shareholder that is an individual or a closely held corporation, the amount which the shareholder is considered to have “at
risk” with respect to USL’s activities. In general, the amount at risk will be your invested capital plus your share of
any recourse debt of USL for which you are liable. Losses in excess of the lesser of (1) the adjusted tax basis in a shareholder’s
share or (2) the amount at risk, must be deferred until years in which USL generates additional taxable income against which to offset
such carryover losses or until additional capital is placed at risk.
Noncorporate
taxpayers are permitted to deduct capital losses only to the extent of their capital gains for the taxable year plus $3,000 of
other income. Unused capital losses can be carried forward and used to offset capital gains in future years. In addition, a noncorporate
taxpayer may elect to carry back net losses on section 1256 contracts to each of the three preceding years and use them to offset
section 1256 contract gains in those years, subject to certain limitations. Corporate taxpayers generally may deduct capital losses
only to the extent of capital gains, subject to special carryback and carryforward rules.
For taxable years
beginning before January 1, 2026, otherwise deductible expenses incurred by noncorporate taxpayers constituting “miscellaneous
itemized deductions,” generally including investment-related expenses (other than interest and certain other specified expenses),
are not deductible. For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, such miscellaneous itemized deductions are deductible only
to the extent they exceed 2% of the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income for the year. Although the matter is not free from
doubt, USL believes management fees it pays to USCF and other expenses it incurs will constitute investment-related
expenses subject to the miscellaneous itemized deduction limitation, rather than expenses incurred in connection with a trade or business,
and will report these expenses consistent with that interpretation. In addition, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026,
the Code imposes additional limitations on the amount of certain itemized deductions allowable to individuals with adjusted gross income
in excess of certain amounts by reducing the otherwise allowable portion of such deductions by an amount equal to the lesser of:
| · | 3%
of the individual’s adjusted gross income in excess of certain threshold amounts;
or |
| · | 80%
of the amount of certain itemized deductions otherwise allowable for the taxable year. |
For taxable years
beginning before January 1, 2026, noncorporate shareholders are entitled to a deduction (subject to certain limitations) equal to their
“combined qualified business income.” “Combined qualified business income” for this purpose includes 20% of a
noncorporate taxpayer’s “qualified publicly traded partnership income.” In general, “qualified publicly traded
partnership income” includes a noncorporate taxpayer’s allocable share of “qualified items” of income, gain,
deduction, and loss. A “qualified item” for this purpose is an item of income, gain deduction, or loss that is (1)
effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the United States and (2) is includible income for
the taxable year. As discussed below, although the matter is not free from doubt, USL believes that the activities directly conducted
by USL will not result in USL being engaged in a trade or business within in the United States. See “Non-U.S. Shareholders—Withholding
on Allocations and Distributions” below. As a result, we do not anticipate that any of our items of income, gain, deduction, or
loss will be reported as “qualified publicly traded partnership income” eligible for the deduction for “combined qualified
business income.” “Qualified publicly traded partnership income” also includes any gain or loss from the sale of an
interest in a partnership to the extent attributable to “unrealized receivables” or “inventory” under section
751 (for a discussion of section 751, see “Tax Consequences of Disposition of Shares” below). A noncorporate taxpayer
that recognizes any gain or loss from the sale of an interest in USL that is attributable to “unrealized receivables” or
“inventory” under section 751 should consult with such taxpayer’s tax advisor to determine whether any portion of such
gain or loss constitutes “qualified publicly traded partnership income” eligible for the deduction for “combined qualified
business income.”
A taxpayer is
generally prohibited from deducting business interest to the extent that it exceeds the sum of (i) business interest income of such taxpayer,
(ii) 30% of the adjusted taxable income of such taxpayer, plus (iii) the floor plan financing interest of such taxpayer. In the case
of partnerships, this determination is made at the partnership level. To the extent that the business income of the partnership exceeds
the amount necessary to absorb all of the partnership’s business interest, such excess amount is allocated to the partners as excess
business income, which amount may be used against any business interest of the partner (but not any other partnerships). To the extent
that the partnership has any disallowed business interest expense, such amount is allocated among the partners, reduces the partners’
adjusted tax basis in their partnership interests by their allocable shares, and is carried forward to future years. Such carryforward
may only be used as a deduction to the extent that the partnership has excess business income in the future. In the event that a partner
transfers a partnership interest with any excess business interest carryforward amounts, such amounts increase the partner’s adjusted tax basis in its partnership interest immediately before the transfer. Although it is not free from doubt, USL does not anticipate
that it will be treated as engaged in a trade or business. As a result, USL does not anticipate that any portion of its interest expense
(if any) will constitute business interest or that shareholders will be allocated any excess business income as a result of holding USL
shares.
Noncorporate
shareholders generally may deduct “investment interest expense” only to the extent of their “net investment
income.” “Investment interest expense” of a shareholder will generally include any interest accrued by USL and
any interest paid or accrued on direct borrowings by a shareholder to purchase or carry its shares, such as interest with respect
to a margin account. Net investment income generally includes gross income from property held for investment (including “portfolio
income” under the passive loss rules but not, absent an election, long-term capital gains or certain qualifying dividend
income), less deductible expenses other than interest directly connected with the production of investment income.
To the extent
that USL allocates losses or expenses to you that must be deferred or are disallowed as a result of these or other limitations
in the Code, the U.S. Treasury Regulations thereunder, or other U.S. federal income tax authorities, you may be taxed on income in excess
of your economic income or distributions (if any) on your shares. As one example, you could be allocated and required to pay tax on your
share of interest income accrued by USL for a particular taxable year, and in the same year be allocated a share of a capital loss that
you cannot deduct currently because you have insufficient capital gains against which to offset the loss. As another example, you could
be allocated and required to pay tax on your share of interest income and capital gain for a year, but be unable to deduct some or all
of your share of management fees and/or margin account interest incurred by you with respect to your shares. Shareholders are urged to
consult their own professional tax advisors regarding the effect of limitations under the Code, the U.S. Treasury Regulations thereunder,
and other U.S. federal income tax authorities on their ability to deduct your allocable share of USL’s losses and expenses.
Tax Basis of Shares
A
shareholder’s adjusted tax basis in its shares is important in determining (1) the amount of taxable gain or loss it will
realize on the sale or other disposition of its shares, (2) the amount of non-taxable distributions that it may receive from USL and
(3) its ability to utilize its distributive share of any losses of USL on its tax return. A shareholder’s initial tax basis of
its shares will equal its cost for the shares plus its share of USL’s liabilities (if any) at the time of purchase. In
general, a shareholder’s “share” of those liabilities will equal the sum of (i) the entire amount of any otherwise
nonrecourse liability of USL as to which the shareholder or an affiliate is the creditor, guarantor, or otherwise bears the economic
risk of loss (a “partner nonrecourse liability”) and (ii) a pro rata share of any nonrecourse liabilities of USL
that are not partner nonrecourse liabilities as to any shareholder.
A shareholder’s
adjusted tax basis in its shares generally will be (1) increased by (a) its allocable share of USL’s taxable income and
gain and (b) any additional contributions by the shareholder to USL and (2) decreased (but not below zero) by (a) its allocable
share of USL’s tax deductions and losses and (b) any distributions by USL to the shareholder. For this purpose, a net increase
in a shareholder’s share of USL’s liabilities will be treated as a contribution of cash by the shareholder to USL
and a net decrease in that share will be treated as a distribution of cash by USL to the shareholder. Pursuant to certain IRS
rulings, a shareholder will be required to maintain a single, “unified” adjusted tax basis in all shares that it owns.
As a result, when a shareholder that acquired its shares at different prices sells less than all of its shares, such shareholder
will not be entitled to specify particular shares (e.g., those with a higher adjusted tax basis) as having been sold. Rather,
it must determine its gain or loss on the sale by using an “equitable apportionment” method to allocate a portion
of its unified adjusted tax basis in its shares to the shares sold.
Treatment
of USL Distributions. If USL makes non-liquidating distributions to shareholders, such distributions generally will not be taxable
to the shareholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes except to the extent that the sum of (i) the amount of cash and (ii) the fair
market value (subject to certain exceptions and adjustments) of marketable securities distributed exceeds the shareholder’s
adjusted basis of its interest in USL immediately before the distribution. Any cash distributions in excess of a shareholder’s
adjusted tax basis generally will be treated as gain from the sale or exchange of shares.
U.S. Federal Income
Tax Consequences of Disposition of Shares
If a shareholder
sells its shares, it will recognize gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and its adjusted tax basis for
the shares sold. A shareholder’s amount realized will be the sum of the cash and the fair market value of other property received,
plus its share of any USL debt outstanding.
Gain or loss recognized
by a shareholder on the sale or exchange of shares held for more than one year will generally be taxable as long-term capital gain or
loss; otherwise, such gain or loss will generally be taxable as short-term capital gain or loss. A special election is available under
the U.S. Treasury Regulations that will allow shareholders to identify and use the actual holding periods for the shares sold
for purposes of determining whether the gain or loss recognized on a sale of shares will give rise to long-term or short-term capital
gain or loss. It is expected that most shareholders will be eligible to elect, and generally will elect, to identify and use the actual
holding period for shares sold. If a shareholder fails to make the election or is unable to identify the holding periods of the
shares sold, the shareholder may have a split holding period in the shares sold. Under such circumstances, a shareholder will be required
to determine its holding period in the shares sold by first determining the portion of its entire interest in USL that would give rise
to long-term capital gain or loss if its entire interest were sold and the portion that would give rise to short-term capital gain or
loss if the entire interest were sold. The shareholder would then treat each share sold as giving rise to long-term capital gain or loss
and short-term capital gain or loss in the same proportions as if it had sold its entire interest in USL.
Under section
751 of the Code, a portion of a shareholder’s gain or loss from the sale of shares (regardless of the holding period for such
shares), will be separately computed and taxed as ordinary income or loss to the extent attributable to “unrealized receivables”
or “inventory” owned by USL. The term “unrealized receivables” includes, among other things, market discount
bonds and short-term debt instruments to the extent such items would give rise to ordinary income if sold by USL. However, the short-term
capital gain on section 1256 contracts resulting from 60-40 treatment, described above, should not be subject to this rule.
If some or all
of your shares are lent by your broker or other agent to a third party — for example, for use by the third party in covering a
short sale — you may be considered as having made a taxable disposition of the loaned shares. Shareholders desiring to avoid the possible consequences of a deemed disposition of their shares are urged to seek advice from their tax advisors.
Other U.S. Federal Income
Tax Matters
Information
Reporting. USL will report tax information to the beneficial owners of shares and the IRS. Shareholders of USL are
generally treated as its beneficial owners for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Accordingly, USL will furnish its shareholders each
year with tax information on IRS Schedules K-1 or K-3 (Form 1065), as applicable, which will be used by the shareholders in
completing their tax returns. The IRS has ruled that assignees of partnership interests who have not been admitted to a
partnership as partners, but who have the capacity to exercise substantial dominion and control over the assigned partnership
interests, will be considered beneficial owners for U.S. federal income tax purposes. On the basis of such ruling and except
as otherwise provided herein, USL will treat any person whose shares are held on their behalf by a broker or other
nominee as a shareholder, if that person has the right to direct the nominee in the exercise of all substantive rights
attendant to the ownership of the shares.
Persons who hold
an interest in USL as a nominee for another person are required to furnish to us the following information: (1) the name, address and
taxpayer identification number of the beneficial owner and the nominee; (2) whether the beneficial owner is (a) a person that is not
a U.S. person, (b) a foreign government, an international organization, or any wholly-owned agency or instrumentality of either of the
foregoing, or (c) a tax-exempt entity; (3) the amount and description of shares acquired or transferred for the beneficial owner; and
(4) certain information, including the dates of acquisitions and transfers, means of acquisitions and transfers, and acquisition cost
for purchases, as well as the amount of net proceeds from sales. Brokers and financial institutions are required to furnish additional
information, including whether they are U.S. persons and certain information on shares they acquire, hold or transfer for their own account.
The nominee is required to supply the beneficial owner of the shares with the information furnished to USL. Penalties may apply
with respect to the failure to report required information.
Partnership
Audit Procedures. The IRS may audit the U.S. federal income tax returns filed by USL. Partnerships are generally treated as
separate entities for purposes of U.S. federal income tax audits, judicial review of administrative adjustments by the IRS, and
tax settlement proceedings. The tax treatment of partnership items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit are determined
at the partnership level in a unified partnership proceeding rather than in separate proceedings with the shareholders.
USL may
be liable for U.S. federal income tax on any “imputed underpayment” resulting from an adjustment due to an
IRS audit. The amount of the imputed underpayment generally includes increases in allocations of items of income or gains
to any shareholder and decreases in allocations of items of deduction, loss, or credit to any shareholder without any offset
for any corresponding reductions in allocations of items of income or gain to any shareholder or increases in allocations
of items of deduction, loss, or credit to any shareholder. If USL is required to pay any U.S. federal income tax arising
from an imputed underpayment, the resulting tax liability would reduce the net assets of USL and would likely have an adverse
impact on the value of the shares. Under certain circumstances, USL may be eligible to make an election to cause the shareholders
to take into account the amount of any imputed underpayment, including any interest and penalties. The ability of
a publicly traded partnership such as USL to elect this treatment is uncertain. If the election is made, USL would
be required to provide shareholders who owned beneficial interests in the shares in the year to which the adjusted allocations
relate with a statement setting forth their proportionate shares of the adjustment (“Adjusted K-1s”). The shareholders
would be required to take the adjustment into account in the taxable year in which the Adjusted K-1s are issued. The Code
generally requires USL to designate one person as the “partnership representative” who has sole authority to defend
against an audit with the IRS, challenge any adjustment in a court of law, and settle any audit or other proceeding. The LP Agreement
appoints USCF as the partnership representative of USL.
Reportable
Transaction Disclosure Rules. In certain circumstances the Code, U.S. Treasury Regulations, and certain IRS administrative
guidance require that the IRS be notified of certain taxable transactions through a disclosure statement attached to a
taxpayer’s U.S. federal income tax return. These disclosure rules may apply to transactions, irrespective of whether they
are structured to achieve particular tax benefits. These disclosure rules could require disclosure by USL or shareholders if a
shareholder incurs a loss in excess of a specified threshold from a sale or redemption of its shares or possibly in other
circumstances. While these rules generally do not require disclosure of a loss recognized on the disposition of an asset in which
the taxpayer has a “qualifying basis” (generally is an adjusted tax basis equal to and solely determined by the amount
of cash paid by the taxpayer for such asset), and satisfies certain other requirements, they do apply to a loss recognized
with respect to interests in a pass-through entity, such as the shares. Significant penalties may be imposed in connection with
a failure to comply with these reporting requirements. Shareholders should consult their own tax advisors concerning the application
of these reporting requirements to their specific situation.
Additional
Tax on Investment Income. Individuals with income in excess of $200,000 ($250,000 in the case of married individuals filing jointly),
and certain estates and trusts, are subject to an additional 3.8% tax on their “net investment income,” which generally includes
income from interest, dividends, annuities, royalties, rents, and net capital gains (other than certain amounts earned from trades or
businesses). The income subject to the additional 3.8% tax includes any income from businesses involved in the trading of financial instruments
or commodities.
Regulated
Investment Companies. Interests in and income from “qualified publicly traded partnerships” satisfying certain
gross income tests are treated as qualifying assets and income, respectively, for purposes of determining eligibility for regulated
investment company (“RIC”) status. A RIC may invest up to 25% of its assets in interests in a qualified publicly traded
partnership. The determination of whether a publicly traded partnership, such as USL, is a qualified publicly traded partnership
is made on an annual basis. USL expects to be a qualified publicly traded partnership in each of its taxable years. However, such
qualification is not assured.
Non-U.S. Shareholders
Generally, non-U.S.
shareholders who derive U.S. source income or gain from investing or engaging in a U.S. business are subject to tax in the
United States with respect to two categories of income. The first category consists of amounts that are fixed, determinable, annual
and periodic income, such as interest, dividends and rent that are not connected with the operation of a U.S. trade or business (“FDAP”).
The second category is income that is effectively connected with the conduct of a U.S. trade or business (“ECI”). FDAP income (other
than interest that is considered “portfolio interest”) is generally subject to a withholding tax imposed at a 30% rate, which
may be reduced for certain categories of income by an income tax treaty between the United States and the recipient’s country
of residence. In contrast, ECI is generally subject to U.S. tax on a net basis at graduated rates upon the filing of a U.S. tax return.
Withholding
on Allocations and Distributions. The Code provides that a non-U.S. shareholder who is a partner in a partnership that
is engaged in the conduct of a U.S. trade or business during a taxable year will also be considered to be engaged in the conduct
of a U.S. trade or business during that year. Classifying an activity by a partnership as an investment or an operating business
is a factual determination. Under certain safe harbors in the Code, an investment fund whose activities consist of trading in
stocks, securities, or commodities for its own account generally will not be considered to be engaged in the conduct of
a U.S. trade or business, unless it is a dealer in such stocks, securities, or commodities. This safe harbor applies to
investments in commodities only if the commodities are of a kind customarily dealt on an organized commodity exchange and if the
transaction is of a kind customarily consummated at such place. Although the matter is not free from doubt, USL believes that
the activities directly conducted by USL will not result in USL being engaged in the conduct of a trade or business within in
the United States. However, there can be no assurance that the IRS would not successfully assert that USL’s activities constitute
a U.S. trade or business.
In the event that
USL’s activities were considered to constitute a U.S. trade or business, USL would be required to withhold at the highest rate specified
in section 1 of the Code (currently 37% (39.6% for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025)) on allocations of income
to individual non-U.S. shareholders, and the highest rate specified in Code Section 11(b) (currently 21%) on allocations of income
to and corporate non-U.S. shareholders, when such income is allocated or distributed. A non-U.S. shareholder with ECI will generally
be required to file a U.S. federal income tax return, and the return will provide the non-U.S. shareholder with the mechanism to seek
a refund of any withholding in excess of such shareholder’s actual U.S. federal income tax liability. Any amount withheld by USL on behalf
of a non-U.S. shareholder will be treated as a distribution to the non-U.S. shareholder to the extent possible. In some cases, USL may
not be able to match the economic cost of satisfying its withholding obligations to a particular non-U.S. shareholder, which may result
in such cost being borne by USL, generally, and accordingly, by all shareholders.
If USL is not
treated as engaged in the conduct of a U.S. trade or business, a non-U.S. shareholder may nevertheless be treated as having FDAP
income, with respect to its allocable share of USL’s income that consists of FDAP income. Such allocations would be subject to
withholding tax imposed at a 30% rate (possibly subject to reduction by an income tax treaty). Amounts withheld on behalf
of a non-U.S. shareholder will be treated as being distributed to such shareholder to the extent possible. In some cases, USL may
not be able to match the economic cost of satisfying its withholding obligations to a particular non-U.S. shareholder, which may result
in such cost being borne by USL, generally, and accordingly, by all shareholders.
To the extent
any interest income allocated to a non-U.S. shareholder that otherwise constitutes FDAP is considered “portfolio interest,”
neither the allocation of such interest income to the non-U.S. shareholder nor a subsequent distribution of such interest income to the
non-U.S. shareholder will be subject to withholding, provided that the non-U.S. shareholder is not otherwise engaged in the conduct
of a trade or business in the United States and provides USL with a timely and properly completed and executed IRS Form W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E,
or other applicable form. In general, “portfolio interest” is interest paid on debt obligations issued in registered form,
unless the “recipient” owns 10% or more of the voting power of the issuer.
BNO expects
that most of its interest income will qualify as “portfolio interest.” In
order for USL to avoid withholding on any interest income allocable to non-U.S. shareholders that would qualify as “portfolio interest,”
it will be necessary for all non-U.S. shareholders to provide USL with a timely and properly completed and executed Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E
(or other applicable form). If a non-U.S. shareholder fails to provide a properly completed Form W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E, or other applicable
form, USCF may request that the non-U.S. shareholder provide, within 15 days after the request by USCF, a properly completed Form W-8BEN,
W-8BEN-E, or other applicable form. If a non-U.S. shareholder fails to comply with this request, the shares owned by such non-U.S. shareholder
will be subject to redemption.
U.S. Treasury Regulations require withholding on certain distributions
occurring on or after January 1, 2023 made by a publicly traded partnership. An exception under these rules applies if a publicly traded
partnership certifies that it is not engaged in a trade or business within the United States at any time during its taxable year through
the publicly traded partnership’s designated date. In order to make this certification, the publicly traded partnership must issue
a “qualified notice” indicating that it qualifies for this exception. A broker may not rely on such a certification if it
has actual knowledge that the certification is incorrect or unreliable. USL intends to issue qualified notices that satisfy the applicable
requirements and which confirms this exception from withholding. Certain aspects of these rules remain unclear. Until the IRS issues guidance
further clarifying these rules, non-U.S. shareholders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the impact of these rules on an
investment in our shares, and brokers are urged consult their tax advisors in making withholding decisions pursuant to these rules.
Gain from Sale
of Shares. Gain from the sale or exchange of the shares may be taxable to a non-U.S. shareholder if the non-U.S. shareholder is a
nonresident alien individual who is present in the U.S. for 183 days or more during the taxable year. In such case, the nonresident alien
individual will be subject to withholding tax imposed at a rate of 30% on the amount of such individual’s gain. In addition, if
USL is treated as being engaged in a U.S. trade or business, a portion of the gain on the sale or exchange will be treated as effectively
connected income subject to U.S. federal income tax to the extent that a sale of USL’s assets would give rise to effectively connected
income. Section 1446(f) of the Code provides that certain transfers of a partnership interest, including an interest in a publicly traded
partnership, may be subject to withholding tax imposed at a rate of 10%.
Under U.S. Treasury Regulations, brokers generally are required to withhold
on certain transfers of interests in partnerships, including interests in publicly traded partnerships. An exception under these rules
applies if a publicly traded partnership certifies that it is not engaged in a trade or business within the United States at any time
during its taxable year through the publicly traded partnership’s designated date. In order to make this certification, the publicly
traded partnership must issue a “qualified notice” indicating that it qualifies for this exception. A broker may not rely
on such a certification if it has actual knowledge that the certification is incorrect or unreliable. USL intends to issue qualified notices
that satisfy the applicable requirements and which confirms this exception from withholding. In addition, certain aspects of these rules
remain unclear. Until the IRS issues guidance further clarifying these rules, non-U.S. shareholders are urged to consult their tax advisors
regarding the impact of these rules on an investment in our shares, and brokers are urged to consult their tax advisors in making withholding
decisions pursuant to these rules.
Branch
Profits Tax on Corporate Non-U.S. Shareholders. In addition to the taxes noted above, any non-U.S. shareholders that derive
ECI and are classified as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes may also be subject to an additional
tax, the branch profits tax, at a rate of 30 percent. The branch profits tax is imposed on a corporate non-U.S. shareholder’s
dividend equivalent amount, which generally consists of the corporation’s after-tax earnings and profits that are effectively
connected with the conduct of the corporation’s U.S. trade or business but are not reinvested in a U.S. trade
or business. This tax may be reduced or eliminated by an income tax treaty between the United States and the country in which
the non-U.S. shareholder is a “qualified resident.”
Prospective
non-U.S. shareholders should consult their tax advisor with regard to these and other issues unique to non-U.S. shareholders.
Backup Withholding
U.S.
Shareholders.
A U.S. shareholder
may be subject to information reporting and backup withholding when such U.S. shareholder receives taxable distributions on the shares
and proceeds from the sale or other disposition of the shares (including a redemption of the shares). Certain U.S. shareholders, including
but not limited to banks and corporations, generally are exempt from to information reporting or backup withholding. A U.S.
shareholder will be subject to backup withholding if such U.S. shareholder is not otherwise exempt and such U.S. shareholder:
| · | fails
to furnish the U.S. shareholder’s U.S. taxpayer identification number or “TIN,” which,
for an individual, generally is his or her U.S. social security number; |
| · | furnishes
an incorrect U.S. TIN; |
| · | is
notified by the IRS that the U.S. shareholder has failed properly to report payments
of interest or dividends; or |
| · | fails
to certify, under penalties of perjury, on an IRS Form W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification
Number and Certification) or a suitable substitute form (or other applicable certificate),
that the U.S. shareholder has furnished a correct U.S. TIN and that the IRS has
not notified the U.S. shareholder that the U.S. shareholder is subject to backup
withholding. |
U.S. shareholders
should consult their tax advisors regarding their qualification for an exemption from backup withholding and the procedures for
obtaining such an exemption, if applicable. Backup withholding is not an additional U.S. federal income tax, and taxpayers may
use amounts withheld as a credit against their U.S. federal income tax liability or may claim a refund if they timely provide
certain information to the IRS.
Non-U.S.
Shareholders.
The amount
of taxable distributions that we pay to any non-U.S. shareholder on the shares will be reported to the non-U.S. shareholder
and to the IRS annually on an IRS Form 1042-S, regardless of the amount of U.S. federal income tax withheld. Copies of these
information returns may also be made available under the provisions of a specific income tax treaty or agreement with the tax
authorities of the country in which the non-U.S. shareholder resides. However, a non-U.S. shareholder generally will
not be subject to backup withholding and certain other information reporting with respect to payments that we make to the non-U.S. shareholder,
provided that we do not have actual knowledge or reason to know that such non-U.S. shareholder is a “United States
person” within the meaning of the Code, and the non-U.S. shareholder complies with applicable certification and disclosure
requirements and furnishes to us the requisite information.
If a
non-U.S. shareholder sells or exchanges a share through a United States broker or the United States office of a
foreign broker or such sale is deemed to occur through a United States office of a foreign broker, the proceeds from such
sale or exchange will be subject to information reporting and backup withholding, unless the non-U.S. shareholder provides
a withholding certificate establishing that such holder is not a U.S. shareholder to the broker and such broker does not
have actual knowledge or reason to know that such holder is a U.S. shareholder, or the non-U.S. shareholder is an exempt
recipient eligible for an exemption from information reporting and backup withholding. If a non-U.S. shareholder sells or
exchanges a share through the foreign office of a broker who is a “United States person” (within the meaning
of the Code) or a “U.S. middleman” (as that that term is defined under applicable U.S. Treasury Regulations),
the proceeds from such sale or exchange will be subject to information reporting, unless the non-U.S. shareholder provides
to such broker a withholding certificate establishing that such shareholder is not a U.S. shareholder and such broker does
not have actual knowledge or reason to know that such evidence is false, or the non-U.S. shareholder is an exempt recipient
eligible for an exemption from information reporting. In circumstances where information reporting by the foreign office of such
a broker is required, backup withholding will be required only if the broker has actual knowledge that the holder is a U.S. shareholder.
A non-U.S. shareholder
generally will be entitled to credit any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules against the non-U.S. shareholder’s
U.S. federal income tax liability or may claim a refund, provided that the required information is furnished to the IRS in
a timely manner.
Non-U.S. shareholders
are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the application of information reporting and backup withholding to their particular
situations, the availability of an exemption therefrom, and the procedures for obtaining such an exemption, if available.
Foreign Account Tax Compliance
Act Provisions
Legislation commonly
referred to as the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act,” or “FATCA,” generally imposes a 30% withholding tax on payments of certain types
of income to foreign financial institutions (“FFIs”), unless such FFIs either: (1) enter into an agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department
to report certain required information with respect to accounts held by certain specified U.S. persons (or held by foreign entities that
have certain specified U.S. persons as substantial owners); or (2) reside in a jurisdiction that has entered into an intergovernmental
agreement (“IGA”) with the United States to collect and share such information and comply with the terms of such IGA and any enabling
legislation or regulations. The types of income subject to the tax include U.S.-source interest and dividends. While the Code would also
require withholding on the payments of the gross proceeds from the sale of any property that could produce U.S.-source interest or dividends,
the U.S. Treasury Department has indicated its intent to eliminate this requirement. The information required to be reported includes
the identity and taxpayer identification number of each account holder that is a specified U.S. person and transaction activity within
the holder’s account. In addition, subject to certain exceptions, this legislation also imposes a 30% withholding tax on certain payments
to certain foreign entities that are not FFIs unless the foreign entity certifies that it does not have a greater than 10% owner that
is a specified U.S. person or provides the withholding agent with identifying information on each greater than 10% owner that is a specified
U.S. person. Depending on the status of a beneficial owner and the status of the intermediaries through which the owner holds its
shares, a beneficial owner could be subject to this 30% withholding tax with respect to distributions on its
shares. Under certain circumstances, a beneficial owner might be eligible for refunds or credits of such taxes.
Other Tax Considerations
In addition to
U.S. federal income taxes, shareholders may be subject to other taxes, such as foreign (non-US) income taxes, state and local
income taxes, unincorporated business taxes, business franchise taxes, gift and estate, inheritance or intangible taxes that may be imposed
by the various jurisdictions in which USL does business or owns property or where the shareholders reside. Although an analysis of those
various taxes is not presented here, each prospective shareholder should consider their potential impact on its investment in USL. It
is each shareholder’s responsibility to file the appropriate U.S. federal, state, local, and foreign tax returns. Eversheds Sutherland
(US) LLP has not provided an opinion concerning any aspects of state, local or foreign tax or U.S. federal tax other than those U.S.
federal income tax issues discussed herein.
Certain ERISA and Related
Considerations
General
Many employee
benefit plans and individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”) are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) or the Code, or both. This section discusses certain considerations that arise under
ERISA and the Code that a fiduciary of: (i) an employee benefit plan as defined in ERISA; (ii) a plan as defined in Section 4975
of the Code; or (iii) any collective investment vehicle, business trust, investment partnership, pooled separate account or other
entity the assets of which are treated as comprised (at least in part) of “plan assets” under the ERISA plan asset
rules (“plan asset entity”); who has investment discretion should take into account before deciding to invest in the
entity’s assets in USL. Employee benefit plans, plans defined under Section 4975 of the Code and plan asset entities are
collectively referred to below as “plans”, and fiduciaries with investment discretion are referred to below as “plan
fiduciaries.”
This summary
is based on the provisions of ERISA, the Code and applicable guidance as of the date hereof. This summary is not intended to be
complete, but only to address certain questions under ERISA and the Code. The summary does not include state or local law.
Potential plan investors
are urged to consult with their own professional advisors concerning the appropriateness of an investment in USL and the manner
in which limited partnership interests should be purchased. USCF does not represent that the limited partnership interests hereby
offered are appropriate for plans or any particular plan.
Special Investment Considerations
Investments
by plans governed by ERISA are subject to ERISA’s fiduciary requirements, including the requirements of investment prudent
and diversification. As a result, each plan fiduciary must consider the facts and circumstances that are relevant to their plan’s
specific circumstances when evaluating an investment in USL, including the role that an investment in USL would play in the plan’s
overall investment portfolio, taking into account the plan’s purpose, the risk and loss of potential return with respect
to the investment, the liquidity, the current return of the total portfolio relative to the anticipated cash flow needs of the
plan, and the projected return of the portfolio and relative to the plan’s investment objectives. Each plan fiduciary, before
deciding to invest in USL, must be satisfied that its investment in the limited partnership interests in USL is prudent for the
plan, that the investments of the plan are properly diversified and that an investment in USL complies with the terms of the plan.
USL and Plan Assets
Regulations
issued under ERISA contains rules for determining when an investment by a plan in an equity interest of a limited partnership
will result in the underlying assets of the partnership being deemed “plan assets” for purposes of ERISA and Section
4975 of the Code. Those rules provide that assets of a limited partnership will not be deemed to be assets of a plan that purchases
an equity interest in the partnership if the equity interest purchased qualifies as a publicly-offered security. If the underlying
assets of a limited partnership are considered to be assets of any plan for purposes of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code, the
operations of that partnership would be subject to and, in some cases, limited by, the provisions of ERISA and Section 4975 of
the Code.
An equity
interest will qualify as a publicly offered security if it is:
| 1. | freely
transferable (determined based on the relevant facts and circumstances); |
| 2. | part
of a class of securities that is widely held (meaning that the class of securities is
owned by 100 or more investors independent of the issuer and of each other); and |
| 3. | either
(a) part of a class of securities registered under Section 12(b) or 12(g) of the 1934
Act or (b) sold to the plan as part of a public offering pursuant to an effective registration
statement under the 1933 Act and the class of which such security is a part is registered
under the 1934 Act within 120 days (or such later time as may be allowed by the SEC)
after the end of the fiscal year of the issuer in which the offering of such security
occurred. |
Regulations
under ERISA state that the determination of whether a security is “freely transferable” is to be made based on all
of the relevant facts and circumstances. In the case of a security that is part of an offering in which the minimum investment
is $10,000 or less, the following requirements, alone or in combination, ordinarily will not affect a finding that the security
is freely transferable: (1) a requirement that no transfer or assignment of the security or rights relating to the security be
made that would violate any federal or state law, (2) a requirement that no transfer or assignment be made without advance written
notice given to the entity that issued the security, and (3) any restriction on the substitution of an assignee as a limited partner
of a partnership, including a general partner consent requirement, provided that the economic benefits of ownership of the assignor
may be transferred or assigned without regard to such restriction or consent (other than compliance with any of the foregoing
restrictions).
USCF believes
that the conditions described above are satisfied with respect to the limited partnership interests. USCF believes that the limited
partnership interests therefore constitute publicly-offered securities, and the underlying assets of USL will not be deemed to
be “plan assets” under applicable ERISA regulations.
Prohibited Transactions
ERISA
and the Code generally prohibit certain transactions involving plans and persons who have certain specified relationships to plans.
In general,
USL limited partnership interests may not be purchased with the assets of a plan if USCF, the clearing brokers, the trading advisors
(if any), or any of their affiliates, agents or employees:
| · | exercise
any discretionary authority or discretionary control with respect to management of the
plan; |
| · | exercise
any authority or control with respect to management or disposition of the assets of the
plan; |
| · | render
investment advice for a fee or other compensation, direct or indirect, with respect to
any monies or other property of the plan; |
| · | have
any authority or responsibility to render investment advice with respect to any monies
or other property of the plan; or |
| · | have
any discretionary authority or discretionary responsibility in the administration of
the plan. |
Also,
a prohibited transaction may occur under ERISA or the Code when circumstances indicate that (1) the investment in an equity interest
is made or retained for the purpose of avoiding application of the fiduciary standards of ERISA, (2) the investment in an equity
interest share constitutes an arrangement under which USL is expected to engage in transactions that would otherwise be prohibited
if entered into directly by the plan purchasing the share, (3) the investing plan, by itself, has the authority or influence to
cause USL to engage in such transactions, or (4) a person who is prohibited from transacting with the investing plan may, but
only with the aid of certain of its affiliates and the investing plan, cause USL to engage in such transactions with such person.
Special IRA Rules
Individual
retirement accounts (“IRAs”) are not subject to ERISA’s fiduciary standards, but are subject to their own rules,
including the prohibited transaction rules of Section 4975 of the Code, which generally mirror ERISA’s prohibited transaction
rules. For example, IRAs are subject to special custody rules and must maintain a qualifying IRA custodial arrangement separate
and distinct from USL and its custodial arrangement. Otherwise, if a separate qualifying custodial arrangement is not maintained,
an investment in the limited partnership interests will be treated as a distribution from the IRA. Additionally, IRAs are prohibited
from investing in certain commingled investments, and USCF makes no representation regarding whether an investment in limited
partnership interests is an inappropriate commingled investment for an IRA. Finally, in applying the prohibited transaction provisions
of Section 4975 of the Code, in addition to the rules summarized above, the individual for whose benefit the IRA is maintained
is also treated as the creator of the IRA. For example, if the owner or beneficiary of an IRA enters into any transaction, arrangement,
or agreement involving the assets of his or her IRA to benefit the IRA owner or beneficiary (or his or her relatives or business
affiliates) personally, or with the understanding that such benefit will occur, directly or indirectly, such transaction could
give rise to a prohibited transaction that is not exempted by any available exemption. Moreover, in the case of an IRA, the consequences
of a non-exempt prohibited transaction are that the IRA’s assets will be treated as if they were distributed, causing immediate
taxation of the assets (including any early distribution penalty tax applicable under Section 72 of the Code), in addition to
any other fines or penalties that may apply.
Exempt Plans
Governmental
plans and church plans are generally not subject to ERISA, and the above-described prohibited transaction provisions described
above do not apply to them. These plans are, however, subject to prohibitions against certain related-party transactions under
Section 503 of the Code, which operate similar to the prohibited transaction rules described above. In addition, the fiduciary
of any governmental or church plan should consider any applicable state or local laws and any restrictions and duties of common
law imposed upon the plan.
No view
is expressed as to whether an investment in USL (and any continued investment in USL), or the operation and administration of
USL, is appropriate or permissible for any governmental plan or church plan under Code Section 503, or under any state, county,
local or other law relating to that type of plan.
Allowing
an investment in USL is not to be construed as a representation by USCF, any trading advisor, any clearing broker, the Marketing
Agent or legal counsel or other advisors to such parties or any other party that this investment meets some or all of the relevant
legal requirements with respect to investments by any particular plan or that this investment is appropriate for any such particular
plan. The person with investment discretion should consult with the plan’s attorney and financial advisors as to the propriety
of an investment in USL in light of the circumstances of the particular plan, current tax law and ERISA.
THE
FOREGOING SUMMARY OF ERISA CONSIDERATIONS IS BASED UPON ERISA, JUDICIAL DECISIONS, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR REGULATIONS AND RULINGS
IN EXISTENCE ON THE DATE HEREOF, ALL OF WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. THE SUMMARY IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT ADDRESS EVERY
ERISA ISSUE THAT MAY BE APPLICABLE TO AN INVESTMENT IN USL OR TO A PARTICULAR INVESTOR.
Form of Shares
Registered
Form. Shares are issued in registered form in accordance with the LP Agreement. The Administrator has been appointed registrar
and transfer agent for the purpose of transferring shares in certificated form. The Administrator keeps a record of all limited
partners and holders of the shares in certificated form in the registry (the “Register”). USCF recognizes transfers
of shares in certificated form only if done in accordance with the LP Agreement. The beneficial interests in such shares are held
in book-entry form through participants and/or accountholders in the Depository Trust Company (“DTC”).
Book
Entry. Individual certificates are not issued for the shares. Instead, shares are represented by one or more global
certificates, which are deposited by the Administrator with DTC and registered in the name of Cede & Co., as nominee for DTC.
The global certificates evidence all of the shares outstanding at any time. Shareholders are limited to (1) participants in DTC
such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies (“DTC Participants”), (2) those who maintain, either directly
or indirectly, a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant (“Indirect Participants”), and (3) those banks, brokers,
dealers, trust companies and others who hold interests in the shares through DTC Participants or Indirect Participants, in each
case who satisfy the requirements for transfers of shares. DTC Participants acting on behalf of investors holding shares through
such participants’ accounts in DTC will follow the delivery practice applicable to securities eligible for DTC’s Same-Day
Funds Settlement System. Shares are credited to DTC Participants’ securities accounts following confirmation of receipt
of payment.
DTC.
DTC has advised USL as follows: DTC is a limited purpose trust company organized under the laws of the State of New York
and is a member of the Federal Reserve System, a “clearing corporation” within the meaning of the New York Uniform
Commercial Code and a “clearing agency” registered pursuant to the provisions of Section 17A of the 1934 Act. DTC
holds securities for DTC Participants and facilitates the clearance and settlement of transactions between DTC Participants through
electronic book-entry changes in accounts of DTC Participants.
Transfer of Shares
Transfers
of Shares Only Through DTC. The shares are only transferable through the book-entry system of DTC. Limited partners who
are not DTC Participants may transfer their shares through DTC by instructing the DTC Participant holding their shares (or by
instructing the Indirect Participant or other entity through which their shares are held) to transfer the shares. Transfers are
made in accordance with standard securities industry practice.
Transfers
of interests in shares with DTC are made in accordance with the usual rules and operating procedures of DTC and the nature of
the transfer. DTC has established procedures to facilitate transfers among the participants and/or accountholders of DTC. Because
DTC can only act on behalf of DTC Participants, who in turn act on behalf of Indirect Participants, the ability of a person or
entity having an interest in a global certificate to pledge such interest to persons or entities that do not participate in DTC,
or otherwise take actions in respect of such interest, may be affected by the lack of a certificate or other definitive document
representing such interest.
DTC has
advised USL that it will take any action permitted to be taken by a shareholder (including, without limitation, the presentation
of a global certificate for exchange) only at the direction of one or more DTC Participants in whose account with DTC interests
in global certificates are credited and only in respect of such portion of the aggregate principal amount of the global certificate
as to which such DTC Participant or Participants has or have given such direction.
Transfer/Application
Requirements. All purchasers of USL’s shares, and potentially any purchasers of shares in the future, who
wish to become limited partners or other record holders and receive cash distributions, if any, or have certain other rights,
must deliver an executed transfer application in which the purchaser or transferee must certify that, among other things, he,
she or it agrees to be bound by USL’s LP Agreement and is eligible to purchase USL’s securities. Each purchaser of
shares offered by this prospectus must execute a transfer application and certification. The obligation to provide the form of
transfer application will be imposed on the seller of shares or, if a purchase of shares is made through an exchange, the form
may be obtained directly through USL. Further, USCF may request each record holder to furnish certain information, including that
record holder’s nationality, citizenship or other related status. A record holder is a shareholder that is, or has applied
to be, a limited partner. An investor who is not a U.S. resident may not be eligible to become a record holder or one of USL’s
limited partners if that investor’s ownership would subject USL to the risk of cancellation or forfeiture of any of USL’s
assets under any federal, state or local law or regulation. If the record holder fails to furnish the information or if USCF determines,
on the basis of the information furnished by the holder in response to the request, that such holder is not qualified to become
one of USL’s limited partners, USCF may be substituted as a holder for the record holder, who will then be treated as a
non-citizen assignee, and USL will have the right to redeem those securities held by the record holder.
A transferee’s
broker, agent or nominee may complete, execute and deliver a transfer application and certification. USL may, at its discretion,
treat the nominee holder of a share as the absolute owner. In that case, the beneficial holder’s rights are limited solely
to those that it has against the nominee holder as a result of any agreement between the beneficial owner and the nominee holder.
A person
purchasing USL’s existing shares, who does not execute a transfer application and certify that the purchaser is eligible
to purchase those securities acquires no rights in those securities other than the right to resell those securities. Whether or
not a transfer application is received or the consent of USCF obtained, USL’s shares are securities and are transferable
according to the laws governing transfers of securities.
Any transfer
of shares will not be recorded by the transfer agent or recognized by USCF unless a completed transfer application is delivered
to USCF or the Administrator. When acquiring shares, the transferee of such shares that completes a transfer application will:
| · | be
an assignee until admitted as a substituted limited partner upon the consent and sole
discretion of USCF and the recording of the assignment on the books and records of the
partnership; |
| · | automatically
request admission as a substituted limited partner; |
| · | agree
to be bound by the terms and conditions of, and execute, the LP Agreement; |
| · | represent
that such transferee has the capacity and authority to enter into the LP Agreement; |
| · | grant
powers of attorney to USCF and any liquidator of USL; and |
| · | make
the consents and waivers contained in the LP Agreement. |
An assignee
will become a limited partner in respect of the transferred shares upon the consent of USCF and the recordation of the name of
the assignee on USL’s books and records. Such consent may be withheld in the sole discretion of USCF.
If consent
of USCF is withheld, such transferee shall be an assignee. An assignee shall have an interest in the partnership equivalent to
that of a limited partner with respect to allocations and distributions, including, without limitation, liquidating distributions,
of the partnership. With respect to voting rights attributable to shares that are held by assignees, USCF shall be deemed to be
the limited partner with respect thereto and shall, in exercising the voting rights in respect of such shares on any matter, vote
such shares at the written direction of the assignee who is the record holder of such shares. If no such written direction is
received, such shares will not be voted. An assignee shall have no other rights of a limited partner.
Until
a share has been transferred on USL’s books, USL and the transfer agent may treat the record holder of the share as the
absolute owner for all purposes, except as otherwise required by law or stock exchange regulations.
What is the Plan of Distribution?
Buying and Selling Shares
Most
investors buy and sell shares of USL in secondary market transactions through brokers. Shares trade on the NYSE Arca under the
ticker symbol “USL.” Shares are bought and sold throughout the trading day like other publicly traded securities.
When buying or selling shares through a broker, most investors incur customary brokerage commissions and charges. Investors are
encouraged to review the terms of their brokerage account for details on applicable charges.
Marketing Agent and
Authorized Participants
The offering of
USL’s shares is a best efforts offering. USL continuously offers Creation Baskets consisting of 50,000 shares through the Marketing
Agent, to Authorized Participants. All Authorized Participants pay a $350 fee for each order they place to create or redeem one
or more Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets. Through September 30, 2022, the fee of the Marketing Agent, which is borne by USCF, was
equal to 0.06% on USL’s assets up to the first $3 billion and 0.04% on USL’s assets in excess of $3 billion. The agreement
with the Marketing Agent has been amended and, commencing October 1, 2022, the fee of the Marketing Agent, which is calculated daily
and payable monthly and borne by USCF, is equal to 0.025% of USL’s total net assets. In no event may the aggregate compensation
paid to the Marketing Agent and any affiliate of USCF for distribution-related services in connection with this offering exceed ten percent
(10%) of the gross proceeds of this offering.
The offering
of baskets is being made in compliance with Conduct Rule 2310 of FINRA. Accordingly, Authorized Participants will not make any
sales to any account over which they have discretionary authority without the prior written approval of a purchaser of shares.
The per
share price of shares offered in Creation Baskets on any subsequent day will be the total NAV of USL calculated shortly after
the close of the core trading session on the NYSE Arca on that day divided by the number of issued and outstanding shares. An
Authorized Participant is not required to sell any specific number or dollar amount of shares.
When
an Authorized Participant executes an agreement with USCF on behalf of USL (each such agreement, an “Authorized Participant
Agreement”), such Authorized Participant becomes part of the group of parties eligible to purchase baskets from, and put
baskets for redemption to, USL. An Authorized Participant is under no obligation to create or redeem baskets, and an Authorized
Participant is under no obligation to offer to the public shares of any baskets it does create.
As of
February 28, 2023, USL had the following Authorized Participants: Citadel Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman
Sachs & Company, JP Morgan Securities Inc., Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp., Morgan Stanley & Company, Inc.,
RBC Capital Markets LLC, SG Americas Securities LLC, and Virtu Americas LLC.
Because
new shares can be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of USL, a “distribution”, as
such term is used in the 1933 Act, will be occurring. Authorized Participants, other broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned
that some of their activities may result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that would render them
statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus-delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. In addition, any
purchaser who purchases shares with a view towards distribution of such shares may be deemed to be a statutory underwriter.
Authorized
Participants will comply with the prospectus-delivery requirements in connection with the sale of shares to customers. For example,
an Authorized Participant, other broker-dealer firm or its client will be deemed a statutory underwriter if it purchases a Creation
Basket from USL, breaks the Creation Basket down into the constituent shares and sells the shares to its customers; or if it chooses
to couple the creation of a supply of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand
for the shares. Authorized Participants may also engage in secondary market transactions in shares that would not be deemed “underwriting”.
For example, an Authorized Participant may act in the capacity of a broker or dealer with respect to shares that were previously
distributed by other Authorized Participants. A determination of whether a particular market participant is an underwriter must
take into account all the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular
case, and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that would lead to
designation as an underwriter and subject them to the prospectus-delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act.
Dealers
who are neither Authorized Participants nor “underwriters” but are nonetheless participating in a distribution (as
contrasted to ordinary secondary trading transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an “unsold allotment”
within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus-delivery exemption
provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act.
USCF
may qualify the shares in states selected by USCF and intends that sales be made through broker-dealers who are members of FINRA.
Investors intending to create or redeem baskets through Authorized Participants in transactions not involving a broker-dealer
registered in such investor’s state of domicile or residence should consult their legal advisor regarding applicable broker-dealer
or securities regulatory requirements under the state securities laws prior to such creation or redemption.
While
the Authorized Participants may be indemnified by USCF, they will not be entitled to receive a discount or commission from USL
for their purchases of Creation Baskets.
Calculating Per Share NAV
USL’s
per share NAV is calculated by:
| · | Taking
the current market value of its total assets; |
| · | Subtracting
any liabilities; and |
| · | Dividing
that total by the total number of outstanding shares. |
The Administrator
calculates the per share NAV of USL once each NYSE Arca trading day. The per share NAV for a normal trading day is released after
4:00 p.m. New York time. Trading during the core trading session on the NYSE Arca typically closes at 4:00 p.m. New York time.
The Administrator uses the NYMEX closing price (determined at the earlier of the close of the NYMEX or 2:30 p.m. New York time)
for the Oil Futures Contracts traded on the NYMEX, but calculates or determines the value of all other USL investments (including
Oil Futures Contracts not traded on the NYMEX, Other Oil-Related Investments and Treasuries), using market quotations, if available,
or other information customarily used to determine the fair value of such investments as of the earlier of the close of the NYSE
Arca or 4:00 p.m. New York time, in accordance with the current Administrative Agency Agreement among the Administrator, USL and
USCF. “Other information” customarily used in determining fair value includes information consisting of market data
in the relevant market supplied by one or more third parties including, without limitation, relevant rates, prices, yields, yield
curves, volatilities, spreads, correlations or other market data in the relevant market; or information of the types described
above from internal sources if that information is of the same type used by USL in the regular course of its business for the
valuation of similar transactions. The information may include costs of funding, to the extent costs of funding are not and would
not be a component of the other information being utilized. Third parties supplying quotations or market data may include, without
limitation, dealers in the relevant markets, end-users of the relevant product, information vendors, brokers and other sources
of market information.
In addition,
in order to provide updated information relating to USL for use by investors and market professionals, the NYSE Arca calculates
and disseminates throughout the core trading session on each trading day an updated indicative fund value. The indicative fund
value is calculated by using the prior day’s closing per share NAV of USL as a base and updating that value throughout the
trading day to reflect changes in the most recently reported trade price for the active light, sweet crude Oil Futures Contracts
on the NYMEX. The prices reported for those Oil Futures Contract months are adjusted based on the prior day’s spread differential
between settlement values for the relevant contract and the spot month contract. In the event that the spot month contract is
also the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts, the last sale price for those contracts is not adjusted. The indicative fund value share
basis disseminated during NYSE Arca core trading session hours should not be viewed as an actual real time update of the per share
NAV, because the per share NAV is calculated only once at the end of each trading day based upon the relevant end of day values
of USL’s investments.
The indicative
fund value is disseminated on a per share basis every 15 seconds during regular NYSE Arca core trading session hours of 9:30 a.m. New
York time to 4:00 p.m. New York time. The normal trading hours of the NYMEX are 9:00 a.m. New York time to 2:30 p.m. New York time. This
means that there is a gap in time at the beginning and the end of each day during which USL’s shares are traded on the NYSE Arca,
but real-time NYMEX trading prices for Oil Futures Contracts traded on the NYMEX are not available. During such gaps in time, the indicative
fund value will be calculated based on the end of day price of such Oil Futures Contracts from the NYMEX’s immediately preceding
trading session. In addition, other Oil Futures Contracts, Other Oil-Related Investments and Treasuries held by USL will be valued by
the Administrator using rates and points received from client-approved third-party vendors (such as Reuters and WM Company) and advisor
quotes. These investments will not be included in the indicative fund value.
The NYSE
Arca disseminates the indicative fund value through the facilities of CTA/CQ High Speed Lines. In addition, the indicative fund
value is published on the NYSE Arca’s website and is available through on-line information services such as Bloomberg and
Reuters.
Dissemination
of the indicative fund value provides additional information that is not otherwise available to the public and is useful to investors
and market professionals in connection with the trading of USL shares on the NYSE Arca. Investors and market professionals are
able throughout the trading day to compare the market price of USL and the indicative fund value. If the market price of USL shares
diverges significantly from the indicative fund value, market professionals will have an incentive to execute arbitrage trades.
For example, if USL appears to be trading at a discount compared to the indicative fund value, a market professional could buy
USL shares on the NYSE Arca and sell short Oil Futures Contracts. Such arbitrage trades can tighten the tracking between the market
price of USL and the indicative fund value and thus can be beneficial to all market participants.
USL reserves
the right to adjust the share price of USL in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors. Any adjustments
would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits. Such splits would decrease (in the case of a split) or increase
(in the case of a reverse split) the proportionate NAV per share, but would have no effect on the net assets of USL or the proportionate
voting rights of shareholders or limited partners.
Creation and Redemption
of Shares
USL creates
and redeems shares from time to time, but only in one or more Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets. The creation and redemption
of baskets are only made in exchange for delivery to USL or the distribution by USL of the amount of Treasuries and any cash represented
by the baskets being created or redeemed, the amount of which is based on the combined NAV of the number of shares included in
the baskets being created or redeemed determined as of 4:00 p.m. New York time on the day the order to create or redeem baskets
is properly received.
Authorized
Participants are the only persons that may place orders to create and redeem baskets. Authorized Participants must be (1) registered
broker-dealers or other securities market participants, such as banks and other financial institutions, that are not required
to register as broker-dealers to engage in securities transactions as described below, and (2) DTC Participants. To become an
Authorized Participant, a person must enter into an Authorized Participant Agreement with USCF on behalf of USL (each such agreement,
an “Authorized Participant Agreement”). The Authorized Participant Agreement provides the procedures for the creation
and redemption of baskets and for the delivery of the Treasuries and any cash required for such creations and redemptions. The
Authorized Participant Agreement and the related procedures attached thereto may be amended by USCF, without the consent of any
limited partner or shareholder or Authorized Participant. Authorized Participants pay a transaction fee of $350 to USL for each
order they place to create one or more Creation Baskets or to redeem one or more Redemption Baskets. The transaction fee may be
reduced, increased or otherwise changed by USCF. Authorized Participants who make deposits with USL in exchange for baskets receive
no fees, commissions or other form of compensation or inducement of any kind from either USL or USCF, and no such person will
have any obligation or responsibility to USCF or USL to effect any sale or resale of shares.
Certain
Authorized Participants are expected to be capable of participating directly in the physical crude oil market and the crude oil
futures market. In some cases, Authorized Participants or their affiliates may from time to time buy or sell crude oil or Oil
Interests and may profit in these instances. USCF believes that the size and operation of the crude oil market make it unlikely
that an Authorized Participant’s direct activities in the crude oil or securities markets will significantly affect the
price of crude oil, Oil Interests, or the price of the shares.
Each
Authorized Participant is required to be registered as a broker-dealer under the 1934 Act and is a member in good standing with
FINRA, or exempt from being or otherwise not required to be registered as a broker-dealer or a member of FINRA, and qualified
to act as a broker or dealer in the states or other jurisdictions where the nature of its business so requires. Certain Authorized
Participants may also be regulated under federal and state banking laws and regulations. Each Authorized Participant has its own
set of rules and procedures, internal controls and information barriers as it determines is appropriate in light of its own regulatory
regime.
Under
the Authorized Participant Agreement, USCF, and USL under limited circumstances, have agreed to indemnify the Authorized Participants
against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the 1933 Act, and to contribute to the payments the Authorized Participants
may be required to make in respect of those liabilities.
The following
description of the procedures for the creation and redemption of baskets is only a summary and an investor should refer to the
relevant provisions of the LP Agreement and the form of Authorized Participant Agreement for more detail, each of which is incorporated
by reference into this prospectus.
Creation Procedures
On any business
day, an Authorized Participant may place an order with the Marketing Agent to create one or more baskets. For purposes of processing
purchase and redemption orders, a “business day” means any day other than a day when any of the NYSE Arca, the NYMEX or NYSE
is closed for regular trading. Purchase orders must be placed by 12:00 p.m. New York time or the close of regular trading on the
NYSE Arca, whichever is earlier. The day on which the Marketing Agent receives a valid purchase order is referred to as the purchase
order date.
By placing
a purchase order, an Authorized Participant agrees to deposit Treasuries, cash, or a combination of Treasuries and cash, as described
below. Prior to the delivery of baskets for a purchase order, the Authorized Participant must also have wired to the Custodian
the non-refundable transaction fee due for the purchase order. Authorized Participants may not withdraw a creation request, except
as otherwise set forth in the procedures in the Authorized Participant Agreement.
The manner
by which creations are made is dictated by the terms of the Authorized Participant Agreement. By placing a purchase order, an
Authorized Participant agrees to (1) deposit Treasuries, cash, or a combination of Treasuries and cash with the Custodian of USL,
and (2) if required by USCF in its sole discretion, enter into or arrange for a block trade, an exchange for physical or exchange
for swap, or any other OTC energy transaction (through itself or a designated acceptable broker) with USL for the purchase of
a number and type of futures contracts at the closing settlement price for such contracts on the purchase order date. If an Authorized
Participant fails to consummate (1) and (2), the order shall be cancelled. The number and types of contracts specified shall be
determined by USCF, in its sole discretion, to meet USL’s investment objective and shall be purchased as a result of the
Authorized Participant’s purchase of shares.
Determination of Required
Deposits
The total
deposit required to create each Creation Basket (“Creation Basket Deposit”) is the amount of Treasuries and/or cash
that is in the same proportion to the total assets of USL (net of estimated accrued but unpaid fees, expenses and other liabilities)
on the purchase order date as the number of shares to be created under the purchase order is in proportion to the total number
of shares outstanding on the purchase order date. USCF determines, directly in its sole discretion or in consultation with the
Administrator, the requirements for Treasuries and the amount of cash, including the maximum permitted remaining maturity of a
Treasury and proportions of Treasury and cash that may be included in deposits to create baskets. The Marketing Agent will publish
such requirements at the beginning of each business day. The amount of cash deposit required is the difference between the aggregate
market value of the Treasuries required to be included in a Creation Basket Deposit as of 4:00 p.m. New York time on the date
the order to purchase is properly received and the total required deposit.
Delivery of Required
Deposits
An Authorized
Participant who places a purchase order is responsible for transferring to USL’s account with the Custodian the required
amount of Treasuries and cash by the end of the second business day following the purchase order date. Upon receipt of the deposit
amount, the Administrator directs DTC to credit the number of baskets ordered to the Authorized Participant’s DTC account
on the second business day following the purchase order date. The expense and risk of delivery and ownership of Treasuries until
such Treasuries have been received by the Custodian on behalf of USL shall be borne solely by the Authorized Participant.
Because
orders to purchase baskets must be placed by 12:00 p.m., New York time, but the total payment required to create a basket during
the continuous offering period will not be determined until after 4:00 p.m. New York time on the date the purchase order is received,
Authorized Participants will not know the total amount of the payment required to create a basket at the time they submit an irrevocable
purchase order for the basket. USL’s per share NAV and the total amount of the payment required to create a basket could
rise or fall substantially between the time an irrevocable purchase order is submitted and the time the amount of the purchase
price in respect thereof is determined.
Rejection of Purchase
Orders
USCF acting
by itself or through the Marketing Agent shall have the absolute right but no obligation to reject a purchase order or a Creation
Basket Deposit if:
| · | it
determines that the investment alternative available to USL at that time will not enable
it to meet its investment objective; |
| · | it
determines that the purchase order or the Creation Basket Deposit is not in proper form; |
| · | it
believes that the purchase order or the Creation Basket Deposit would have adverse tax
consequences to USL, the limited partners or its shareholders; |
| · | the
acceptance or receipt of the Creation Basket Deposit would, in the opinion of counsel
to USCF, be unlawful; or |
| · | circumstances
outside the control of USCF, Marketing Agent or Custodian make it, for all practical
purposes, not feasible to process creations of baskets. |
None of
USCF, the Marketing Agent or the Custodian will be liable for the rejection of any purchase order or Creation Basket Deposit.
Redemption Procedures
The procedures
by which an Authorized Participant can redeem one or more baskets mirror the procedures for the creation of baskets. On any business
day, an Authorized Participant may place an order with the Marketing Agent to redeem one or more baskets. Redemption orders must
be placed by 12:00 p.m. New York time or the close of regular trading on the NYSE Arca, whichever is earlier. A redemption order
so received will be effective on the date it is received in satisfactory form by the Marketing Agent (“Redemption Order
Date”). The redemption procedures allow Authorized Participants to redeem baskets and do not entitle an individual shareholder
to redeem any shares in an amount less than a Redemption Basket, or to redeem baskets other than through an Authorized Participant.
By placing
a redemption order, an Authorized Participant agrees to deliver the baskets to be redeemed through DTC’s book-entry system
to USL, as described below. Prior to the delivery of the redemption distribution for a redemption order, the Authorized Participant
must also have wired to USL’s account at the Custodian the non-refundable transaction fee due for the redemption order.
An Authorized Participant may not withdraw a redemption order, except as otherwise set forth in the procedures in the Authorized
Participant Agreement.
The manner
by which redemptions are made is dictated by the terms of the Authorized Participant Agreement. By placing a redemption order,
an Authorized Participant agrees to (1) deliver the Redemption Basket to be redeemed through DTC’s book-entry system to
USL’s account with the Custodian not later than 3:00 p.m. New York time on the second business day following the effective
date of the redemption order (“Redemption Distribution Date”), and (2) if required by USCF in its sole discretion,
enter into or arrange for a block trade, an exchange for physical or exchange for swap, or any other OTC energy transaction (through
itself or a designated acceptable broker) with USL for the sale of a number and type of futures contracts at the closing settlement
price for such contracts on the Redemption Order Date. If an Authorized Participant fails to consummate (1) and (2) above, the
order shall be cancelled. The number and type of contracts specified shall be determined by USCF, in its sole discretion, to meet
USL’s investment objective and shall be sold as a result of the Authorized Participant’s sale of shares.
Determination of Redemption
Distribution
The redemption
distribution from USL consists of a transfer to the redeeming Authorized Participant of an amount of Treasuries and/or cash that
is in the same proportion to the total assets of USL (net of estimated accrued but unpaid fees, expenses and other liabilities)
on the date the order to redeem is properly received as the number of shares to be redeemed under the redemption order is in proportion
to the total number of shares outstanding on the date the order is received. USCF, directly or in consultation with the Administrator,
determines the requirements for Treasuries and the amounts of cash, including the maximum permitted remaining maturity of a Treasury,
and the proportions of Treasuries and cash that may be included in distributions to redeem baskets. The Marketing Agent will publish
an estimate of the redemption distribution per basket as of the beginning of each business day.
Delivery of Redemption
Distribution
The redemption
distribution due from USL will be delivered to the Authorized Participant by 3:00 p.m. New York time on the second business day
following the redemption order date if, by 3:00 p.m. New York time on such second business day, USL’s DTC account has been
credited with the baskets to be redeemed. If USL’s DTC account has not been credited with all of the baskets to be redeemed
by such time, the redemption distribution will be delivered to the extent of whole baskets received. Any remainder of the redemption
distribution will be delivered on the next business day to the extent of remaining whole baskets received if USL receives the
fee applicable to the extension of the redemption distribution date which USCF may, from time to time, determine and the remaining
baskets to be redeemed are credited to USL’s DTC account by 3:00 p.m. New York time on such next business day. Any further
outstanding amount of the redemption order shall be cancelled. Pursuant to information from USCF, the Custodian will also be authorized
to deliver the redemption distribution notwithstanding that the baskets to be redeemed are not credited to USL’s DTC account
by 3:00 p.m. New York time on the second business day following the redemption order date if the Authorized Participant has collateralized
its obligation to deliver the baskets through DTC’s book entry-system on such terms as USCF may from time to time determine.
Suspension or Rejection
of Redemption Orders
USCF
may, in its discretion, suspend the right of redemption, or postpone the redemption settlement date, (1) for any period during
which the NYSE Arca or the NYMEX is closed other than customary weekend or holiday closings, or trading on the NYSE Arca or the
NYMEX is suspended or restricted, (2) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which delivery, disposal
or evaluation of Treasuries is not reasonably practicable, or (3) for such other period as USCF determines to be necessary for
the protection of the limited partners or shareholders. For example, USCF may determine that it is necessary to suspend redemptions
to allow for the orderly liquidation of USL’s assets at an appropriate value to fund a redemption. If USCF has difficulty
liquidating its positions, e.g., because of a market disruption event in the futures markets, a suspension of trading by
the exchange where the futures contracts are listed or an unanticipated delay in the liquidation of a position in an OTC contract,
it may be appropriate to suspend redemptions until such time as such circumstances are rectified. None of USCF, the Marketing
Agent, the Administrator, or the Custodian will be liable to any person or in any way for any loss or damages that may result
from any such suspension or postponement.
Redemption
orders must be made in whole baskets. USCF will reject a redemption order if the order is not in proper form as described in the
Authorized Participant Agreement or if the fulfillment of the order, in the opinion of its counsel, might be unlawful. USCF may
also reject a redemption order if the number of shares being redeemed would reduce the remaining outstanding shares to 100,000
shares (i.e., two baskets) or less.
Creation and Redemption
Transaction Fee
To compensate
USL for its expenses in connection with the creation and redemption of baskets, an Authorized Participant is required to pay a
transaction fee to USL of $350 per order to create or redeem baskets, regardless of the number of baskets in such order. An order
may include multiple baskets. The transaction fee may be reduced, increased or otherwise changed by USCF. USCF shall notify DTC
of any change in the transaction fee and will not implement any increase in the fee for the redemption of baskets until thirty
(30) days after the date of the notice.
Tax Responsibility
Authorized
Participants are responsible for any transfer tax, sales or use tax, stamp tax, recording tax, value added tax or similar tax
or governmental charge applicable to the creation or redemption of baskets, regardless of whether or not such tax or charge is
imposed directly on the Authorized Participant, and agree to indemnify USCF and USL if they are required by law to pay any such
tax, together with any applicable penalties, additions to tax and interest thereon.
Secondary Market Transactions
As noted,
USL creates and redeems shares from time to time, but only in one or more Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets. The creation
and redemption of baskets are only made in exchange for delivery to USL or the distribution by USL of the amount of Treasuries
and cash represented by the baskets being created or redeemed, the amount of which will be based on the aggregate NAV of the number
of shares included in the baskets being created or redeemed determined on the day the order to create or redeem baskets is properly
received.
As discussed
above, Authorized Participants are the only persons that may place orders to create and redeem baskets. Authorized Participants
must be registered broker-dealers or other securities market participants, such as banks and other financial institutions that
are not required to register as broker-dealers to engage in securities transactions. An Authorized Participant is under no obligation
to create or redeem baskets, and an Authorized Participant is under no obligation to offer to the public shares of any baskets
it does create. Authorized Participants that do offer to the public shares from the baskets they create will do so at per-share
offering prices that are expected to reflect, among other factors, the trading price of the shares on the NYSE Arca, the per share
NAV of USL at the time the Authorized Participant purchased the Creation Baskets and the per share NAV at the time of the offer
of the shares to the public, the supply of and demand for shares at the time of sale, and the liquidity of the Oil Futures Contract
market and the market for Other Oil-Related Investments.
Shares
initially comprising the same basket but offered by Authorized Participants to the public at different times may have different
offering prices. An order for one or more baskets may be placed by an Authorized Participant on behalf of multiple clients. Authorized
Participants who make deposits with USL in exchange for baskets receive no fees, commissions or other forms of compensation or
inducement of any kind from either USL or USCF, and no such person has any obligation or responsibility to USCF or USL to effect
any sale or resale of shares. Shares trade in the secondary market on the NYSE Arca. Shares may trade in the secondary market
at prices that are lower or higher relative to their NAV per share.
The amount of
the discount or premium in the trading price relative to the per share NAV may be influenced by various factors, including, among other
things, the number of investors who seek to purchase or sell shares in the secondary market, availability of Creation Baskets, the liquidity
of the Oil Futures Contracts market and the market for Other Oil-Related Investments. In addition, while USL’s shares trade during
the core trading session on the NYSE Arca until 4:00 p.m. New York time, liquidity in the market for Futures Contracts and Other Oil-Related
Investments may be reduced after the close of the NYMEX at 2:30 p.m. New York time, USL’s NAV is calculated based on the settlement
price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts at 2:30 p.m. New York time and the closing share price of USL on the NYSE Arca takes
into account changes in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts that occur after the settlement price is determined.
As a result, during this time, particularly if USL has invested in Oil Futures Contracts and Other Oil-Related Investments traded
on the NYMEX, trading spreads, and the resulting premium or discount, on the shares may widen.
Use of Proceeds
USCF
causes USL to transfer the proceeds from the sale of Creation Baskets to the Custodian or other custodian for trading activities.
USCF will invest USL’s assets in Oil Interests and investments in Treasuries, cash and/or cash equivalents. When USL purchases
an Oil Futures Contract and certain exchange-traded Other Oil-Related Investments, USL is required to deposit typically 5% to
30% with the selling FCMs on behalf of the exchange a portion of the value of the contract or other interest as security to ensure
payment for the obligation under Oil Interests at maturity. This deposit is known as initial margin. Counterparties in transactions
in OTC contracts will generally impose similar collateral requirements on USL. USCF will invest the assets that remain after margin
and collateral are posted in Treasuries, cash and/or cash equivalents subject to these margin and collateral requirements. USCF
has sole authority to determine the percentage of assets that are:
| · | held
on deposit with the FCMs or other custodian, |
| · | used
for other investments, and |
| · | held
in bank accounts to pay current obligations and as reserves. |
An FCM, a
counterparty, a government agency or a commodity exchange could increase margin or collateral requirements applicable to USL to
hold trading positions at any time. The percentage of assets committed as margin may be substantially more or less than the 5% to
30% range described above. Ongoing margin and collateral payments will generally be required for both exchange-traded and OTC contracts
based on changes in the value of the Oil Interests. Furthermore, ongoing collateral requirements with respect to OTC contracts are negotiated
by the parties, and may be affected by overall market volatility, volatility of the underlying commodity or index, the ability of the
counterparty to hedge its exposure under the Oil Interests, and each party’s creditworthiness. Margin is merely a security deposit and
has no bearing on the profit or loss potential for any positions held. In light of the differing requirements for initial payments under
exchange-traded and OTC contracts and the fluctuating nature of ongoing margin and collateral payments, it is not possible to estimate
what portion of USL’s assets will be posted as margin or collateral at any given time. The Treasuries, cash and cash equivalents held
by USL will constitute reserves that will be available to meet ongoing margin and collateral requirements. All interest income will be
used for USL’s benefit.
The assets
of USL posted as margin for Oil Futures Contracts are held in segregated accounts pursuant to the CEA and CFTC regulations.
If USL
enters into a swap agreement, USL must post both collateral and independent amounts to its swap counterparty(ies). The amount
of collateral USL posts changes according to the amounts owed by USL to its counterparty on a given swap transaction, while independent
amounts are fixed amounts posted by USL at the start of a swap transaction. Collateral and independent amounts posted to swap
counterparties will be held by a third-party custodian.
INFORMATION
YOU SHOULD KNOW
This
prospectus contains information you should consider when making an investment decision about the shares. You may rely on the information
contained in this prospectus. Neither USL nor USCF has authorized any person to provide you with different information and, if
anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. This prospectus is not an offer to
sell the shares in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale of the shares is not permitted.
The information
contained in this prospectus was obtained from us and other sources believed by us to be reliable.
You should
rely only on the information contained in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement or any information incorporated
by reference to this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with any information that is different. If you receive
any unauthorized information, you must not rely on it. You should disregard anything we said in an earlier document that is inconsistent
with what is included in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement or any information incorporated by reference
to this prospectus. Where the context requires, when we refer to this “prospectus,” we are referring to this prospectus
and (if applicable) the relevant prospectus supplement.
You should
not assume that the information in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement is current as of any date other than
the date on the front page of this prospectus or the date on the front page of any applicable prospectus supplement.
We include
cross references in this prospectus to captions in these materials where you can find further related discussions. The table of
contents tells you where to find these captions.
SUMMARY
OF PROMOTIONAL AND SALES MATERIAL
USL uses
the following promotional or sales material:
| · | USL’s
website, www.uscfinvestments.com; and |
| · | USL
fact sheet found on USL’s website. |
The materials
described above are not a part of this prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part and have been
submitted to the staff of the SEC for their review pursuant to Industry Guide 5.
This
section is provided here as a convenience to you.
INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
USCF owns trademark
registrations for UNITED STATES 12 MONTH OIL FUND (U.S. Reg. No. 3600671) for “Investment services in the field of oil futures
contracts and other oil-related investments,” in use since December 6, 2007, and 12 USL UNITED STATES 12 MONTH OIL FUND, LP (and
12 and Flame Design) (U.S. Reg. 4440927) for “financial investment services in the field of oil futures contracts, cash-settled
options on oil futures contracts, forward contracts for oil over-the-counter transactions based on the price of oil, and indices based
on the foregoing,” in use since September 30, 2012. USCF relies upon these trademarks through which it markets its services and
strives to build and maintain brand recognition in the market and among current and potential investors. So long as USCF continues to
use these trademarks to identify its services, without challenge from any third party, and properly maintains and renews the trademark
registrations under applicable laws, rules and regulations, it will continue to have indefinite protection for these trademarks
under current laws, rules and regulations.
USCF
owns trademark registrations for USCF (and Design) (U.S. Reg. No. 5127374) for “fund investment services,” in use
since April 10, 2016, USCF (U.S. Reg. No. 5040755) for “fund investment services,” in use since June 24, 2008, and
INVEST IN WHAT’S REAL (U.S. Reg. No. 5450808) for “fund investment services,” in use since April 2016. USCF
relies upon these trademarks and service mark through which it markets its services and strives to build and maintain brand recognition
in the market and among current and potential investors. So long as USCF continues to use these trademarks to identify its services,
without challenge from any third party, and properly maintains and renews the trademark registrations under applicable laws, rules
and regulations; it will continue to have indefinite protection for these trademarks under current laws, rules and regulations.
USCF has been granted two patents Nos. 7,739,186 and 8,019,675, for systems and methods for an exchange traded fund (ETF) that
tracks the price of one or more commodities.
WHERE
YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION
USCF
has filed on behalf of USL a registration statement on Form S-3 with the SEC under the 1933 Act. This prospectus does not contain
all of the information set forth in the registration statement (including the exhibits to the registration statement), parts of
which have been omitted in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC. For further information about USL or the shares,
please refer to the registration statement, which you may access online at www.sec.gov. Information about USL and the shares
can also be obtained from USL’s website, http://www.uscfinvestments.com. USL’s website address is only provided
here as a convenience to you and the information contained on or connected to the website is not part of this prospectus or the
registration statement of which this prospectus is part. USL is subject to the informational requirements of the 1934 Act and
USCF, on behalf of USL, will file certain reports and other information with the SEC under the 1934 Act. USCF will file an updated
prospectus annually for USL pursuant to the 1933 Act. The reports and other information can be accessed online at www.sec.gov.
STATEMENT
REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This
prospectus includes “forward-looking statements” which generally relate to future events or future performance. In
some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,”
“expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,”
“potential,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. All statements (other than statements
of historical fact) included in this prospectus that address activities, events or developments that will or may occur in the
future, including such matters as changes in inflation in the United States, movements in the stock market, movements in U.S.
and foreign currencies, and movements in the commodities markets and indexes that track such movements, USL’s operations,
USCF’s plans and references to USL’s future success and other similar matters, are forward-looking statements. These
statements are only predictions. Actual events or results may differ materially. These statements are based upon certain assumptions
and analyses USCF has made based on its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments,
as well as other factors appropriate in the circumstances. Whether or not actual results and developments will conform to USCF’s
expectations and predictions, however, is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the special considerations
discussed in this prospectus, general economic, market and business conditions, changes in laws or regulations, including those
concerning taxes, made by governmental authorities or regulatory bodies, and other world economic and political developments.
See “Risk Factors Involved with an Investment in USL” Consequently, all the forward-looking statements made in this
prospectus are qualified by these cautionary statements, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments
USCF anticipates will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will result in the expected consequences to, or
have the expected effects on, USL’s operations or the value of the shares.
INCORPORATION
BY REFERENCE OF CERTAIN INFORMATION
We are
a reporting company and file annual, quarterly and current reports and other information with the SEC. The rules of the SEC allow
us to “incorporate by reference” information that we file with them, which means that we can disclose important information
to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is an important part of this prospectus.
Any reports filed by us with the SEC subsequent to the date of this prospectus and before the date that any offering of any securities
by means of this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement is terminated will automatically update, and where applicable,
supersede any information contained in this prospectus or incorporated by reference in this prospectus. We incorporate by reference
the documents listed below and any future filings we will make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the 1934
Act after the date of this prospectus until all of the securities offered by this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement
have been sold or we otherwise terminate the offering of these securities; provided, however, that information “furnished”
under Item 2.02 or Item 7.01 of Form 8-K, or other information “furnished” to the SEC which is not deemed filed is
not and will not be incorporated by reference. This prospectus incorporates by reference the documents set forth below that have
been previously filed with the SEC.
| · | Annual
Report on Form
10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on February 27,
2023. |
| | |
| · | Current
Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on April 3, 2023. |
We will
provide to each person to whom a prospectus is delivered, including any beneficial owner, a copy of these filings at no cost,
upon written or oral request at the following address or telephone number:
United
States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP
Attention: Katie Rooney
1850 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Suite 640
Walnut Creek, California 94596
(510) 522-9600
Privacy Policy
USL and
USCF may collect or have access to certain nonpublic personal information about current and former investors. Nonpublic personal
information may include information received from investors, such as an investor’s name, social security number and address,
as well as information received from brokerage firms about investor holdings and transactions in shares of USL.
USL and
USCF do not disclose nonpublic personal information except as required by law or as described in their Privacy Policy. In general,
USL and USCF restrict access to the nonpublic personal information they collect about investors to those of their and their affiliates’
employees and service providers who need access to such information to provide products and services to investors.
USL and USCF maintain
safeguards that comply with federal and applicable state law to protect investors’ nonpublic personal information. These safeguards
are reasonably designed to (1) ensure the security and confidentiality of investors’ records and information, (2) protect against
any anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of investors’ records and information, and (3) protect against
unauthorized access to or use of investors’ records or information that could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to any
investor. Third-party service providers with whom USL and USCF share nonpublic personal information about investors must agree
to follow appropriate standards of security and confidentiality, which includes safeguarding such nonpublic personal information physically,
electronically and procedurally.
A copy
of USCF’s current Privacy Policy is available at http://www.uscfinvestments.com.
APPENDIX
A
Glossary
of Defined Terms
In this
prospectus, each of the following terms has the meaning set forth after such term:
1933
Act: The Securities Act of 1933.
1934
Act: The Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
1940
Act: Investment Company Act of 1940.
Adjusted
K-1: A statement to investors who owned beneficial interests in the shares in the year to which the adjusted allocations relate
setting forth their proportionate shares of the adjustment.
Administrator:
BNY Mellon.
Authorized
Participant: A person that purchases or redeems Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets, respectively, from or to USL.
Authorized
Participant Agreement: An agreement with USCF on behalf of USL whereby a person becomes an Authorized Participant.
Backup
Withholding: U.S. federal income tax that is required to be withheld.
Basket:
A block of 50,000 shares.
Benchmark
Oil Futures Contracts: The near month contract to expire and the contracts for the following eleven months for a total of
12 consecutive months’ contracts on light, sweet crude oil traded on the NYMEX except during the last two weeks of the current
month when the near month contract is sold and replaced by the futures contract for the thirteenth month following the current
month.
BNO:
United States Brent Oil Fund, LP.
BNY
Mellon: The Bank of New York Mellon.
Board:
USCF’s board of directors.
Business
Day: Any day other than a day when any of the NYSE Arca, the NYMEX or the New York Stock Exchange is closed for regular trading.
CEA:
Commodity Exchange Act.
CFTC:
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, an independent agency with the mandate to regulate commodity futures and options in the
United States.
Cleared
Swap Contract: A financial contract, whose value is designed to track the return on stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities,
or some other benchmark, that is submitted to a central clearinghouse after it is either traded OTC or on an exchange or other
trading platform.
Code:
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
Commodity
Pool: An enterprise in which several individuals contribute funds in order to trade futures contracts or options on futures
contracts collectively.
Commodity
Pool Operator or CPO: Any person engaged in a business which is of the nature of an investment trust, syndicate, or similar
enterprise, and who, in connection therewith, solicits, accepts, or receives from others, funds, securities, or property, either
directly or through capital contributions, the sale of stock or other forms of securities, or otherwise, for the purpose of trading
in any commodity for future delivery or commodity option on or subject to the rules of any contract market.
CPER:
United States Copper Index Fund.
Creation
Basket: A block of 50,000 shares used by USL to issue shares.
Creation
Basket Deposit: The total deposit required to create each basket.
Custodian:
The Bank of New York Mellon.
DCM:
Designated contract market.
DNO:
United States Short Oil Fund, LP.
DTC:
The Depository Trust Company. DTC will act as the securities depository for the shares.
DTC
Participant: An entity that has an account with DTC.
DTEF:
A derivatives transaction execution facility.
ECI:
Income that is effectively connected with the conduct of a U.S. trade or business.
ERISA:
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
Exchange
for Related Position (EFRP): An off market transaction which involves the swapping (or exchanging) of an over-the-counter
(OTC) position for a futures position. The OTC transaction must be for the same or similar quantity or amount of a specified commodity,
or a substantially similar commodity or instrument. The OTC side of the EFRP can include swaps, swap options, or other instruments
traded in the OTC market. In order that an EFRP transaction can take place, the OTC side and futures components must be “substantially
similar” in terms of either value and or quantity. The net result is that the OTC position (and the inherent counterparty
credit exposure) is transferred from the OTC market to the futures market. EFRPs can also work in reverse, where a futures position
can be reversed and transferred to the OTC market.
FDAP:
Amounts that are fixed, determinable, annual and periodic income, such as interest, dividends and rent that are not connected
with the operation of a U.S. trade or business.
FCM:
Futures Commission Merchant.
FFI:
Foreign financial institution.
FINRA:
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
ICE Futures
Exchange (ICE Futures): The leading electronic regulated futures and options exchange for global energy markets. USL expects
to invest primarily in futures contracts, and particularly in futures contracts traded on ICE Futures.
IGA:
Intergovernmental agreement.
Indirect
Participants: Banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC
Participant, either directly or indirectly.
IRA:
Individual retirement account.
IRS:
U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
ISDA:
International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.
Limited
Liability Company (LLC): A type of business ownership combining several features of corporation and partnership structures.
LLC
Agreement: The Sixth Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of USCF, dated as of
May 15, 2015 (as amended
from time to time).
LP
Agreement: The Third Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership dated as of December 15, 2017.
Management
Directors: The four management directors that make up USCF’s board of directors.
Margin:
The amount of equity required for an investment in futures contracts.
Marketing
Agent: ALPS Distributors, Inc.
Marygold:
The Marygold Companies, Inc., formerly Concierge Technologies Inc., a company publicly traded under the ticker symbol “MGLD.”
NAV:
Net asset value of USL.
NFA:
National Futures Association.
New
York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX): The primary exchange on which futures contracts are traded in the U.S. USL expects
to invest primarily in futures contracts, and particularly in futures contracts traded on the NYMEX. USL expressly disclaims any
association with the NYMEX or endorsement of USL by the NYMEX and acknowledges that “NYMEX” and “New York Mercantile
Exchange” are registered trademarks of the NYMEX.
NYSE
Arca: NYSE Arca, Inc.
Oil
Futures Contracts: Futures contracts for crude oil, diesel-heating oil, gasoline, natural gas, and other petroleum-based fuels
that are traded on the NYMEX, ICE Futures or other U.S. and foreign exchanges.
Oil
Interests: Oil Futures Contracts and Other Oil-Related Investments.
Option:
The right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a futures contract or forward contract at a specified price on or before a specified
date.
OPEC:
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
Other
Oil-Related Investments: Other crude oil related investments other than Oil Futures Contracts such as cash-settled options
on Oil Futures Contracts, forward contracts for crude oil, and OTC transactions that are based on the price of crude oil and other
petroleum-based fuels, Oil Futures Contracts and indices based on the foregoing.
OTC
Derivative: A financial contract, whose value is designed to track the return on stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, or
some other benchmark, that is traded OTC or off organized exchanges.
Position
Limits Rule: Regulatory limits imposed by the CFTC on speculative positions in certain physical commodity futures and option
contracts and swaps that are economically equivalent to such contracts in the agriculture, energy and metals markets and rules
addressing the circumstances under which market participants would be required to aggregate their positions with other persons
under common ownership or control.
Prudential
Regulators: The CFTC, the SEC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Farm Credit Administration and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, collectively.
Redemption
Basket: A block of 50,000 shares used by USL to redeem shares.
Redemption
Order Date: The date a redemption order is received in satisfactory form and approved by the Marketing Agent.
Register:
The record of all Shareholders and holders of the shares in certificated form kept by the Administrator.
Related
Public Funds: United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund, LP (“UNL”); United States Brent Oil Fund, LP (“BNO”);
United States Oil Fund, LP (“USO”); United States Gasoline Fund, LP (“UGA”); United States Natural Gas
Fund, LP (“UNG”); United States Copper Index Fund (“CPER”); United States Commodity Index Fund (“USCI”).
SEC:
Securities and Exchange Commission.
SEF:
A swap execution facility.
Secondary
Market: The stock exchanges and the OTC market. Securities are first issued as a primary offering to the public. When the
securities are traded from that first holder to another, the issues trade in these secondary markets.
Shareholders:
Holders of shares.
Shares:
Common shares representing fractional undivided beneficial interests in USL.
Spot
Contract: A cash market transaction in which the buyer and seller agree to the immediate purchase and sale of a commodity,
usually with a two-day settlement.
Swap
Contract: Swap transactions generally involve contracts between two parties to exchange a stream of payments computed by reference
to a notional amount and the price of the asset that is the subject of the swap. Some swap transactions are cleared through central
counterparties. These transactions, known as cleared swaps, involve two counterparties first agreeing to the terms of a swap transaction,
then submitting the transaction to a clearing house that acts as the central counterparty. Swap transactions that are not cleared
through central counterparties are called “uncleared” or “over-the-counter” (“OTC”) swaps.
Tracking
Error: Possibility that the daily NAV of USL will not track the price of light, sweet crude oil.
Treasuries:
Obligations of the U.S. government with remaining maturities of 2 years or less.
UBTI:
Unrelated business taxable income.
UGA:
United States Gasoline Fund, LP.
UHN:
United States Diesel-Heating Oil Fund, LP.
UNG:
United States Natural Gas Fund, LP.
UNL:
United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund, LP.
USCF:
United States Commodity Funds LLC (the general partner), a Delaware limited liability company, which is registered as a Commodity
Pool Operator, who controls the investments and other decisions of USL.
USCF
Investments: USCF Investments, Inc., formerly Wainwright Holdings, Inc.
USCI: United
States Commodity Index Fund.
USL:
United States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP.
USO:
United States Oil Fund, LP.
Valuation Day:
Any day as of which USL calculates its NAV.
You:
The owner or holder of shares.
United States 12 Month Oil (AMEX:USL)
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