Filed On 3/10/06 5:40pm ET · SEC File 333-124950 · Accession Number 950133-6-1164
As Of Filer Filing As/For/On Docs:Pgs Issuer Agent
3/13/06 United States Oil Fund/LP S-1/A 3/10/06 9:242 Bowne of Dc 01/FA
Pre-Effective Amendment to Registration Statement (General Form) · Form S-1
Filing Table of Contents
Document/Exhibit Description Pages Size
1: S-1/A Form S-1/A Amend No. 5 HTML 1,386K
2: EX-3.1 Articles of Incorporation/Organization or By-Laws HTML 275K
3: EX-5.1 Opinion re: Legality HTML 11K
4: EX-8.1 Opinion re: Tax Matters HTML 12K
5: EX-10.1 Material Contract HTML 217K
6: EX-10.2 Material Contract HTML 210K
7: EX-10.3 Material Contract HTML 213K
8: EX-10.4 Material Contract HTML 183K
9: EX-23.2 Consent of Experts or Counsel HTML 7K
S-1/A · Form S-1/A Amend No. 5
This is an EDGAR HTML document rendered as filed. [ Alternative Formats ]
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on
March 10, 2006
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
PRE-EFFECTIVE
AMENDMENT
NO. 5 TO
Form S-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
United States Oil Fund, LP
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
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Delaware |
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6799 |
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20-2830691 |
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization) |
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(Primary Standard Industrial
Classification Code Number) |
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(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.) |
1320 Harbor Bay Parkway, Suite 145
510.522-3336
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including
area code, of Registrant’s principal executive offices)
1320 Harbor Bay Parkway, Suite 145
510.522-3336
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number,
including area code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
W. Thomas Conner, Esq.
James M. Cain, Esq.
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
1275 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
202.383.0590
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the
public: As soon as practicable after this registration
statement becomes effective.
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be
offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to
Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the
following
box. þ
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an
offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act
of 1933, check the following box and list the Securities Act
registration statement number of the earlier effective
registration statement for the same
offering. o
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to
Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act of 1933, check the
following box and list the Securities Act registration statement
number of the earlier effective registration statement for the
same offering. o
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to
Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act of 1933, check the
following box and list the Securities Act registration statement
number of the earlier effective registration statement for the
same offering. o
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
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Proposed Maximum |
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Proposed Maximum |
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Amount of |
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Amount to be |
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Offering |
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Aggregate |
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Registration |
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Registered |
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Price per unit(1) |
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Offering Price(1) |
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Fee(2) |
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Units of United States Oil Fund, LP
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17,000,000 units |
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$61.58 |
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$1,046,860,000 |
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$111,362.93 |
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Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration
fee pursuant to Rule 457(d) under the Securities Act of
1933. The price of each unit was estimated based on the closing
price of near month oil futures contracts on the New York
Mercantile Exchange of $61.58 on March 7, 2006. |
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Reflects prior payment of registration fee of $5,937.97 for
1,000,000 of the 17,000,000 units pursuant to the initial
registration statement. The fee for the remaining units was
based upon the Proposed Maximum Offering Price per unit above. |
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The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on
such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective
date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which
specifically states that this Registration Statement shall
thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a)
of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration
Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities
and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said
Section 8(a), may determine.
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The information in this prospectus is not
complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities
until the registration statement filed with the SEC is
effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these
securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these
securities in any state where the offer or sale is not
permitted.
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SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED
APRIL , 2006
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS
17,000,000 units
United States Oil Fund, LP
United States Oil Fund, LP, a Delaware limited partnership, is a
commodity pool that will issue units that may be purchased and
sold on the American Stock Exchange. United States Oil Fund, LP
is referred to as USOF throughout this document. The investment
objective of USOF is for the units’ net asset value to
reflect the performance of the spot price of West Texas
Intermediate light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing,
Oklahoma, less USOF’s expenses.
This is a best efforts offering. USOF will continuously offer
creation baskets consisting of 100,000 units to authorized
purchasers through ALPS Distributors, Inc., which is the
marketing agent. KV Execution Services, LLC is expected to be
the initial authorized purchaser. Authorized purchasers will pay
a transaction fee of $1,000 fee for the creation of each
creation basket. There are no arrangements to place funds in an
escrow, trust, or similar account. This will be a continuous
offering and will not terminate until all of the registered
units have been sold.
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The initial authorized purchaser will, subject to conditions,
purchase the initial creation basket of 100,000 units at an
initial offering price per unit equal to the closing price of
near month oil futures contracts for light, sweet crude oil as
listed on the New York Mercantile Exchange on the last business
day prior to the effective date of the registration statement
relating to this prospectus. The effective date will be the date
the first creation basket is sold and the proceeds are invested.
The per unit price of units offered in creation baskets on any
subsequent day will be the total net asset value of USOF
calculated shortly after the close of the American Stock
Exchange on that day divided by the number of issued and
outstanding units. |
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Authorized purchasers will be the only persons that may place
orders to create and redeem baskets. An authorized purchaser is
under no obligation to create or redeem baskets, and an
authorized purchaser is under no obligation to offer to the
public units of any baskets it does create. Authorized
purchasers that do offer to the public units from the baskets
they create will do so at per-unit offering prices that are
expected to reflect, among other factors, the trading price of
the units on the American Stock Exchange, the net asset value of
USOF at the time the authorized purchaser purchased the creation
basket and the net asset value of the units at the time of the
offer of the units to the public, the supply of and demand for
units at the time of sale, and the liquidity of the oil futures
contract market and the market for other oil interests, and are
expected to fall between USOF’s net asset value and the
trading price of the units on the American Stock Exchange at the
time of sale. Units initially comprising the same basket but
offered by authorized purchasers to the public at different
times may have different offering prices. Units are expected to
trade in the secondary market on the American Stock Exchange.
Units may trade in the secondary market at prices that are lower
or higher relative to their net asset value per unit. The amount
of the discount or premium in the trading price relative to the
net asset value per unit may be influenced by various factors,
including the number of investors who seek to purchase or sell
units in the secondary market and the liquidity of the oil
futures contract market and the market for other oil interests.
Authorized purchasers will not be required to sell any specific
number or dollar amount of units. |
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USOF is not a mutual fund registered under the Investment
Company Act of 1940 and is not subject to regulation under such
Act.
Some of the risks of investing in USOF include:
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Investing in oil interests subjects USOF to the risks of the oil
industry and this could result in large fluctuations in the
price of USOF’s units. |
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If certain correlations do not exist, then investors may not be
able to use USOF as a cost effective way to invest indirectly in
oil or as a hedge against the risk of loss in oil-related
transactions. |
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USOF does not expect to make cash distributions. |
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USOF and its general partner may have conflicts of interest,
which may permit them to favor their own interests to your
detriment. |
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USOF has no operating history so there is no performance history
to serve as a basis for you to evaluate an investment
in USOF. |
Investing in USOF involves other significant risks. See
“What are the Risk Factors Involved With An Investment In
USOF?” starting on page 11.
NEITHER THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
(“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.
THE COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION (“CFTC”)
HAS NOT PASSED UPON THE MERITS OF PARTICIPATING IN THIS POOL NOR
HAS IT PASSED ON THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS DISCLOSURE
DOCUMENT.
This prospectus is in two parts: a disclosure document and a
statement of additional information. These parts are bound
together, and both contain important information.
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Per Unit | |
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Per Basket | |
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Price of the units in the first basket sold
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The date of this prospectus is
April , 2006.
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 FUTURES AND OPTIONS 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, 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
BEGINNING ON PAGE [65] AND A STATEMENT OF THE PERCENTAGE RETURN
NECESSARY TO BREAK EVEN, THAT IS, TO RECOVER THE AMOUNT OF YOUR
INITIAL INVESTMENT, ON PAGE [6].
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 THE DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINCIPAL RISK
FACTORS OF THIS INVESTMENT, BEGINNING ON PAGE [11].
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.
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AS OF THE DATE OF THIS PROSPECTUS THIS POOL HAD NOT COMMENCED
TRADING AND DID NOT HAVE ANY PERFORMANCE HISTORY |
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Prospectus Summary
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Overview of USOF
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The Units
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USOF’s Investments in Oil Interests
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Principal Investment Risks of an Investment in USOF
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Principal Offices of USOF and the General Partner
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Financial Condition of USOF
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Breakeven Analysis
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What are the Risk Factors Involved with an Investment in USOF?
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Risks Associated With Investing Directly or Indirectly in Oil
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USOF’s Operating Risks
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Risk of Leverage and Volatility
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Risk of Trading in International Markets
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Tax Risk
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Legal Risks
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The Offering
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What is USOF?
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Who is the General Partner?
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How Does USOF Operate?
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What is USOF’s Investment Strategy?
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What is the Light, Sweet Crude Oil Market?
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How Will USOF Purchase and Sell Oil Futures Contracts?
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What is the Flow of Units?
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What are the Trading Policies of USOF?
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Who are the Service Providers?
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What is the Plan of Distribution?
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Use of Proceeds
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The Commodity Interest Markets
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Potential Advantages of Investment
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Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition
and Results of Operations
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Limited Partnership Agreement
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Fees of USOF
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66 |
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The General Partner Has Conflicts of Interest
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The General Partner’s Responsibility and Remedies
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Liability and Indemnification
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Provisions of Law
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Books and Records
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Analysis of Critical Accounting Policies
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Statements, Filings, and Reports
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Fiscal Year
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Governing Law; Consent To Delaware Jurisdiction
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Legal Matters
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Privacy Policy
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U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations
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Backup Withholding
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Other Tax Considerations
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Information You Should Know
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Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
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Where You Can Find More Information
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Patent Application Pending
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Index to Financial Statements
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F-1 |
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Report of the Independent Auditors
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F-2, F-8 |
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Glossary of Defined Terms
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App-1 |
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STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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SAI-1 |
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Overview of Petroleum Industry
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SAI-3 |
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Overview of Crude Oil
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SAI-3 |
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Crude Oil Regulation
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SAI-6 |
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PART II
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II-1 |
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Item 13. Other Expenses of Issuance and
Distribution
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II-1 |
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Item 14. Indemnification of Directors and
Officers
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II-1 |
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Item 15. Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
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II-2 |
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Item 16. Exhibits and Financial Statement
Schedules
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II-3 |
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Item 17. Undertakings
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II-3 |
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SIGNATURES
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Until ,
2006 (25 days after the date of this prospectus), all
dealers effecting transactions in the offered units, whether or
not participating in this distribution, may be required to
deliver a prospectus. This requirement is in addition to the
obligations of dealers to deliver a prospectus when acting as
underwriters and with respect to unsold allotments or
subscriptions.
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Prospectus Summary
This is only a summary of the Prospectus and, while it
contains material information about USOF and its units, it does
not contain or summarize all of the information about USOF and
the units contained in this Prospectus that is material and/or
which may be important to you. You should read this entire
Prospectus, including “What Are the Risk Factors Involved
with an Investment in USOF?” beginning on page 11,
before making an investment decision about the units.
Overview of USOF
United States Oil Fund, LP, a Delaware limited partnership
(
“USOF” or
“Us” or
“We”), is a
commodity pool that will issue units that may be purchased and
sold on the American Stock Exchange. USOF changed its name from
New York Oil ETF, LP to United States Oil Fund, LP on
September 30, 2005. The investment objective of USOF is for
the units’ net asset value (
“NAV”) to
reflect the performance of the spot price of West Texas
Intermediate (
“WTI”) light, sweet crude oil delivered
to Cushing, Oklahoma (
“WTI light, sweet crude oil”),
less USOF’s expenses.
USOF will invest in futures
contracts for WTI light, sweet crude
oil, other types of crude oil, heating oil, gasoline, natural
gas, and other petroleum-based fuels that are traded on the New
York Mercantile Exchange or other U.S. and foreign exchanges
(collectively,
“Oil Futures Contracts”) and other oil
interests such as cash-settled options on Oil Futures
Contracts,
forward
contracts for oil, and over-the-counter transactions
that are based on the price of oil, other petroleum-based fuels,
Oil Futures
Contracts and indices based on the foregoing
(collectively,
“Other Oil Interests”). The general
partner, Victoria Bay Asset Management, LLC (
“General
Partner”), which is registered as a commodity pool
operator, is authorized by the Agreement of Limited Partnership
(
“LP Agreement”) to manage USOF. The General Partner
is authorized by USOF in its sole judgment to employ, establish
the terms of employment for, and terminate commodities trading
advisors or futures commission merchants.
USOF seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in a
mix of Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests such that
USOF’s NAV will closely track the price of a specified Oil
Futures
Contract (the
“Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract”). The General Partner believes the Benchmark Oil
Futures
Contract historically exhibited a close correlation with
the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil. On any Valuation
Day (a Valuation Day is any day as of which USOF calculates its
NAV), the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract is the near month
futures
contract for WTI light, sweet crude oil traded on the
New York Mercantile Exchange unless the near month futures
contract will expire within two weeks of the Valuation Day, in
which case the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract is the second to
nearest out month
contract for WTI light, sweet crude oil traded
on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
“Near Month
Contract” means the next
contract traded on the New York
Mercantile Exchange due to expire;
“Second to Nearest Out
Month Contract” means the first
contract traded on the New
York Mercantile Exchange due to expire after the Near Month
Contract. This convention is used to define the Benchmark Oil
Futures
Contract because the General Partner believes from its
review of past market activity that most Oil Futures
Contracts
traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange are closed out or
offset by the parties prior to the settlement date of the
contract and there is lighter trading during the days
immediately preceding settlement. Because there is lighter
trading during the two-week period prior to settlement, the
trading price of the Near Month
Contract may not provide as
accurate a reflection of the spot price of oil. The General
Partner generally intends to invest in the Second to Nearest Out
Month
Contract during this period.
More specifically, the General Partner will endeavor to place
USOF’s trades in Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil
Interests and otherwise manage USOF’s investments so that A
will be within plus/minus 10 percent of B, where:
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A is the average daily change in USOF’s NAV for any period
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B is the average daily change in the price of the Benchmark Oil
Futures Contract over the same period. |
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The General Partner believes that market arbitrage opportunities
will cause USOF’s unit price on the American Stock Exchange
to closely track USOF’s NAV per unit. The General Partner
further believes that the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract have historically closely tracked the spot prices of
WTI light, sweet crude oil. The General Partner believes that
the net effect of these two expected relationships and the
expected relationship described above between USOF’s NAV
and the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract, will be that the price
of USOF’s units on the American Stock Exchange will closely
track the spot price of a barrel of WTI light, sweet crude oil,
less USOF’s expenses.
USOF will also invest in obligations of the United States
government with remaining maturities of two years or less
(
“Treasuries”) and hold cash and cash equivalents to
be used to meet its current or potential margin or collateral
requirements with respect to its investments in Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests. USOF does not expect there to
be any meaningful correlation between the performance of
USOF’s investments in Treasuries/cash/cash equivalents and
the changes in the price of WTI light, sweet crude oil. While
the level of interest earned on or market price of these
investments may in some respect correlate to changes in the
price of oil, this correlation is not anticipated as part of
USOF’s efforts to meet its objectives. This and certain
risk factors discussed in this prospectus may cause a lack of
correlation between USOF’s NAV and the price of WTI light,
sweet crude oil.
The General Partner will employ a “neutral” investment
strategy intended to track the spot price of WTI light,
sweet crude oil regardless of whether the price of oil goes up
or goes down. USOF’s “neutral” investment
strategy is designed to permit investors generally to purchase
and sell USOF’s units for the purpose of investing
indirectly in 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 oil-related transactions. Accordingly, depending
on the investment objective of an individual investor, the risks
generally associated with investing in oil and/or the risks
involved in hedging may exist. In addition, an investment in
USOF involves the risk that the price of USOF’s units will
not accurately track the spot price of WTI light, sweet
crude oil.
USOF will create and redeem units only in blocks called Creation
Baskets and Redemption Baskets, respectively. Only Authorized
Purchasers may purchase or redeem Creation Baskets or Redemption
Baskets. An Authorized Purchaser is under no obligation to
create or redeem baskets, and an Authorized Purchaser is under
no obligation to offer to the public units of any baskets it
does create. It is expected that baskets will be created when
there is sufficient demand for units that the market price per
unit is at a premium to the NAV per unit. Authorized Purchasers
will then sell such units, which will be listed on the American
Stock Exchange, to the public at prices that are expected to
reflect, among other factors, the trading price of the units on
the American Stock Exchange, the NAV of USOF at the time the
Authorized Purchaser purchased the Creation Baskets and the NAV
at the time of the offer of the units to the public, the supply
of and demand for units at the time of sale, and the liquidity
of the Oil Futures
Contracts market and the market for Other Oil
Interests, and are expected to fall between USOF’s NAV and
the trading price of the units on the American Stock Exchange at
the time of sale. Similarly, it is expected that baskets will be
redeemed when the market price per unit is at a discount to the
NAV per unit. Retail investors seeking to purchase or sell units
on any day are expected to effect such transactions in the
secondary market, on the American Stock Exchange, at the market
price per unit, rather than in connection with the creation or
redemption of baskets.
The minimum number of Creation Baskets that must be sold is one.
All proceeds from the sale of Creation Baskets will be invested
as quickly as possible in the investments described in this
Prospectus. There will be no escrow or similar holding of funds
that has a time period or other conditions. Investments will be
held through Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., USOF’s
Custodian or, through accounts with USOF’s commodities
futures brokers. There is no stated maximum time period for
USOF’s operations and the fund will continue until all
units are redeemed or the fund is liquidated pursuant to the
terms of the LP Agreement.
There is no specified limit on the maximum amount of Creation
Baskets that can be sold. At some point, position limits on
certain of the futures
contracts in which USOF intends to invest
may practically limit the maximum amount of Creation Baskets
that will be sold if the General Partner determines that
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the other investment alternatives available to USOF at that time
will not enable it to meet its stated investment objective.
Units may also be purchased and sold in smaller increments on
the American Stock Exchange. However, these transactions will be
effected at bid and ask prices established by specialist
firm(s). Like any listed security, units of USOF can be
purchased and sold at any time a secondary market is open.
In managing USOF’s assets the General Partner does not
intend to use a technical trading system that issues buy and
sell orders. The General Partner does intend to employ
quantitative methodologies whereby each time one or more baskets
are purchased or sold, the General Partner will purchase or sell
Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests with an aggregate
face amount that approximates the amount of Treasuries and /or
cash received or paid upon the purchase or sale of the basket(s).
Note to Secondary Market Investors: The units can be
directly purchased from or redeemed by USOF only in Creation
Baskets or Redemption Baskets, respectively, and only by
Authorized Purchasers. Each Creation Basket and
Redemption Basket will consist of 100,000 units and is
expected to be worth several million dollars. Individual
investors, therefore, will not be able to directly purchase
units from or redeem units with USOF. Some of the information
contained in this Prospectus, including information about buying
and selling units directly from and to USOF is only relevant to
Authorized Purchasers. Units will also be listed and traded on
the American Stock Exchange and may be purchased and sold as
individual units. Individuals interested in purchasing units in
the secondary market should contact their broker. Units
purchased or sold through a broker may be subject to commissions.
Except when aggregated in Redemption Baskets, units will
not be redeemable securities. There is no guarantee that units
will trade at or near NAV.
USOF was organized as a limited partnership under Delaware law
on
May 12, 2005. USOF is operated pursuant to the LP
Agreement, which is included as Appendix B. It is managed
and controlled by the General Partner, Victoria Bay Asset
Management, LLC. The General Partner is registered as a
commodities pool operator (
“CPO”) with the National
Futures Association (
“NFA”).
The Units
The units are registered as securities under the Securities Act
of 1933 (“1933 Act”) and will not provide dividend
rights or conversion rights and there will not be sinking funds.
The units may only be redeemed when aggregated in
Redemption Baskets as discussed under “Creations and
Redemptions” and limited partners will have limited voting
rights as discussed under “Who is the General
Partner?” Cumulative voting will neither be permitted nor
required and there will be no preemptive rights. As discussed in
the LP Agreement, upon liquidation of USOF, its assets will be
distributed to limited partners pro rata based upon the number
of units held. Each limited partner will receive its share of
the assets in cash or in kind, and the proportion of such share
that is received in cash may vary from partner to partner, as
the General Partner in its sole discretion may decide.
This will be a continuous offering under Rule 415 of the
1933 Act and it will terminate when all of the registered units
have been sold. It is anticipated that when all registered units
have been sold, additional units will be registered in
subsequent continuous offerings. As discussed above, the minimum
purchase requirement for Authorized Purchasers is a Creation
Basket, which will consist of 100,000 units. Under the plan of
distribution, USOF does not require a minimum purchase amount
for investors who purchase units from Authorized Purchasers.
There are no arrangements to place funds in an escrow, trust, or
similar account.
USOF’s Investments in Oil Interests
USOF will invest in Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil
Interests. For convenience and unless otherwise specified, Oil
Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests collectively are
referred to as “oil
3
interests” in this Prospectus. A brief description of the
principal types of oil interest-related instruments in which
USOF may invest is set forth below.
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An oil futures contract is a standardized contract traded on a
futures exchange that calls for the future delivery of a
specified quantity of oil at a specified time and place. |
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An oil forward contract is a supply contract between principals,
not traded on an exchange, to buy or sell a specified quantity
of oil at or before a specified date at a specified price. |
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A spot contract for oil is a cash market transaction in which
the buyer and seller agree to the immediate purchase and sale of
oil, usually with a two-day settlement. Spot contracts are not
uniform and are not exchange-traded. |
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An option on an oil futures contract, forward contract or oil on
the spot market gives the buyer of the option the right, but not
the obligation, to buy or sell a futures contract, forward
contract or oil, as applicable, at a specified price on or
before a specified date. Options on futures contracts are
standardized contracts traded on an exchange, while options on
forward contracts and oil on the spot market, referred to
collectively in this prospectus as
over-the-counter
options, generally are individually negotiated,
principal-to-principal
contracts not traded on an exchange. |
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Over-the-counter
contracts (such as swap contracts) generally involve an exchange
of a stream of payments between the contracting parties.
Over-the-counter contracts
generally are not uniform and not exchange-traded.
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A more detailed description of oil interests and other aspects
of the oil and oil interest markets can be found later in this
Prospectus.
As noted, USOF expects to invest primarily in Oil Futures
Contracts, including those traded on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. USOF expressly disclaims any association with such
Exchange or endorsement of USOF by such Exchange and
acknowledges that “NYMEX” and “New York
Mercantile Exchange” are registered trademarks of such
Exchange.
Principal Investment Risks of an Investment in USOF
An investment in USOF 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 11.
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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, USOF generally does
not expect to distribute cash to limited partners or other
unitholders. You should not invest in USOF if you will need cash
distributions from USOF to pay taxes on your share of income and
gains of USOF, if any, or for any other reason. |
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There is the risk that the price of USOF’s units on the
American Stock Exchange will not closely track the spot price of
WTI light, sweet crude oil. This could happen if the price of
units traded on the American Stock Exchange does not correlate
closely with USOF’s NAV; USOF’s NAV does not closely
correlate with the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract;
or the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract does not
closely correlate with the cash or spot price of WTI light,
sweet crude oil. This is a risk because if these correlations do
not exist, then investors may not be able to use USOF as a cost
effective way to invest indirectly in oil or as a hedge against
the risk of loss in oil-related transactions. |
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USOF seeks to have its NAV track the spot price of WTI light,
sweet crude oil rather than profit from speculative trading of
oil interests. The General Partner will therefore endeavor to
manage USOF’s positions in oil interests so that
USOF’s assets are, unlike other commodities pools, not
leveraged (i.e., so that the aggregate value of
USOF’s unrealized losses from its investments in such oil
interests at any time will not exceed the value of USOF’s
assets). There is no assurance that the General Partner will
successfully implement this investment strategy. If the General
Partner permits USOF to become leveraged, you could lose all or
substantially all of your investment if USOF’s trading
positions suddenly turn unprofitable. These movements in price
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be the result of factors outside of the General Partner’s
control and may not be anticipated by the General Partner. |
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Investors may choose to use USOF as a means of investing
indirectly in oil and there are risks involved in such
investments. Among other things, the crude oil industry
experiences numerous operating risks. These operating risks
include the risk of fire, explosions, blow-outs, pipe failure,
abnormally pressured formations and environmental hazards.
Environmental hazards include oil spills, natural gas leaks,
ruptures or discharges of toxic gases. Crude oil operations also
are subject to various U.S. federal, state and local
regulations that materially affect operations. |
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Investors, including those who participate in the oil industry,
may choose to use USOF as a vehicle to hedge against the risk of
loss and there are risks involved in hedging activities. While
hedging can provide protection against an adverse movement in
market prices, it can also preclude a hedger’s opportunity
to benefit from a favorable market movement. |
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USOF expects to invest primarily in Oil Futures Contracts,
including those traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Representatives of the New York Mercantile Exchange have
notified USOF of its belief that USOF is engaging in
unauthorized use of such Exchange’s service marks and
certain prices of Oil Futures Contracts traded on such Exchange.
The Exchange has demanded that USOF cease all uses of the
service marks of the Exchange and enter into a licensing
agreement for the use of such marks. |
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While USOF disputes the Exchange’s positions described
above, USOF has taken steps it believes are reasonably designed
towards an amicable resolution with the New York Mercantile
Exchange. Among other things, USOF has engaged in discussions
with the New York Mercantile Exchange regarding these assertions
and changed USOF’s name. Additionally, as noted above USOF
expressly disclaims any association with the Exchange or
endorsement of USOF by the Exchange and acknowledges that
“NYMEX” and “New York Mercantile Exchange”
are registered trademarks of such Exchange. |
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At this time, USOF is unable to determine what the outcome from
these matters will be. If the resolution or lack of resolution
of this matter results in a material restriction on USOF’s
ability to invest in Oil Futures Contracts traded on the New
York Mercantile Exchange or use the prices of Oil Futures
Contracts traded on the Exchange, USOF may not be able to
achieve its current investment objective. |
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USOF expects to invest primarily in Oil Futures Contracts that
are traded in the United States. However, a portion of
USOF’s trades may take place in markets and on exchanges
outside the United States. Some
non-U.S. markets
present risks because they are not subject to the same degree of
regulation as their U.S. counterparts. In some of these
non-U.S. markets,
the performance on a contract is the responsibility of the
counterparty and is not backed by an exchange or clearing
corporation and therefore exposes USOF to credit risk. Trading
in
non-U.S. markets
also leaves USOF susceptible to fluctuations in the value of the
local currency against the U.S. dollar. |
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USOF may also invest in Other Oil Interests, many of which are
negotiated contracts that are not as liquid as Oil Futures
Contracts and expose USOF to credit risk that its counterparty
may not be able to satisfy its obligations to USOF. |
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USOF will pay fees and expenses that are incurred regardless of
whether it is profitable. |
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You will have no rights to participate in the management of USOF
and will have to rely on the duties and judgment of the General
Partner to manage USOF. |
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The structure and operation of USOF may involve conflicts of
interest. For example, a conflict may arise because the General
Partner and its principal and affiliates may trade for
themselves. In addition, the General Partner has sole current
authority to manage the investments and operations, which may
create a conflict with the unitholders’ best interests. In
addition, other conflicts may |
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USOF is new and has no operating history. Therefore, there is no
performance history of this fund to serve as a basis for you to
evaluate an investment in it. |
For additional risks, see “What are the Risk Factors
Involved with an Investment in USOF?”
Principal Offices of USOF and the General Partner
USOF’s principal office is located at 1320 Harbor Bay
Parkway, Suite 145
Alameda,
California 94502. The telephone
number is 510.522.3336. The General Partner’s principal
office is also located at 1320 Harbor Bay Parkway,
Suite 145
Alameda,
California 94502.
Financial Condition of USOF
USOF will not calculate the NAV prior to the effective date. As
of 4:00 pm New York time on the effective date the NAV
per unit was
$ .
Defined Terms
For a glossary of defined terms, see Appendix A.
Breakeven Analysis*
The breakeven analysis below indicates the approximate dollar
returns and percentage required for the redemption value of a
hypothetical $61.35 initial investment in a single unit to equal
the amount invested twelve months after the investment was made.
(We based the $61.35 assumption on the spot price of
WTI light, sweet crude oil as traded on the New York
Mercantile Exchange on
March 7, 2006). This breakeven
analysis refers to the redemption of baskets by Authorized
Purchasers and is not related to any gains an individual
investor would have to achieve in order to break even. The
breakeven analysis is an approximation only.
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Units | |
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Assumed initial selling price per unit
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$ |
61.22 |
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Management Fee (0.50%)**
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$ |
.3062 |
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Creation Basket Fee
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(.01 |
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Estimated Brokerage Fee (0.35%)***
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$ |
0.215 |
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Interest Income (3.93%)****
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$ |
(2.41 |
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Amount of trading income (loss) required for the redemption
value at the end of one year to equal the initial selling price
of the unit
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$ |
(1.8989 |
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Percentage of initial selling price per unit
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(3.10% |
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Authorized Purchasers will pay a transaction fee of $1,000 to
USOF for each order they place to create or redeem one or more
baskets. |
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** |
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USOF is contractually obligated to pay the General Partner a
management fee based on daily net assets and paid monthly of
0.50% per annum on average net assets of $1,000,000,000 or less.
For purposes of this example we assumed that the average net
assets are $1,000,000,000 or less. If the average net assets
were greater than $1,000,000,000 then the management fee would
be 0.20% and the breakeven amount would be lower. |
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*** |
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USOF determined this estimate as follows. The breakeven analysis
assumes an initial investment by an investor in one unit. USOF
would be required to issue one Creation Basket of 100,000 units
in order for the investor to purchase the one unit. Assuming the
price of the units was $61.35, USOF would receive $6,135,000
upon the sale of the basket. USOF would be required to purchase
and sell |
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(in order to close out) 100 oil futures contracts at $61,350 per
contract (1,000 barrels of oil per contract × $61.35 per
barrel) during each month of the year, or 1,200 contracts bought
and sold per year. Futures commission merchants typically charge
approximately $9.00 per contract buy or sale ($18.00 per buy and
sale, or “round turn”), so the total annual commission
charge would be $21,600 (1,200 contracts per year × $18 per
buy and sell per contract). As a percentage of the total
investment of $6,135,000 to support the issuance of the Creation
Basket, USOF’s annual commission expense would be 0.35%
($21,600 ÷ $6,135,000). |
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USOF will earn interest on Treasuries and it estimates that the
interest rate will be 3.93% based on the current interest rate
on three-month Treasury Bills as of October 28, 2005. The
actual rate may vary because various Treasuries with remaining
maturities of two years or less may be used. |
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The Offering
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Offering |
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USOF will be offering Creation Baskets consisting of
100,000 units through ALPS Distributors, Inc.
(“Marketing Agent”) as marketing agent to Authorized
Purchasers. The initial Authorized Purchaser will purchase the
initial Creation Basket of 100,000 units at an initial
offering price per unit equal to the closing price of Near Month
oil futures contracts for WTI light, sweet crude oil as listed
on the New York Mercantile Exchange on the first business day
prior to the effective date of the registration statement to
which this prospectus relates. The effective date will be the
date the first Creation Basket is sold and the proceeds are
invested. |
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Use of Proceeds |
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The General Partner will initially apply all of USOF’s
assets toward trading in oil interests and investing in
Treasuries, cash and cash equivalents. The General Partner
expects to deposit substantially all of USOF’s net assets
with the futures commission merchant or other custodian to be
used to meet its current or potential margin or collateral
requirements in connection with its investment in oil interests.
USOF will use only Treasuries or cash or cash equivalents to
satisfy these requirements. The General Partner expects that all
entities that will hold or trade USOF’s assets will be
based in the United States and will be subject to United States
regulations. The General Partner believes that 5% to 10% of
USOF’s assets will normally be committed as margin for
commodity futures contracts. However, from time to time, the
percentage of assets committed as margin may be substantially
more, or less, than such range. The remaining portion of
USOF’s assets will be held in Treasuries and/ or cash or
cash equivalents by its custodian, Brown Brothers
Harriman & Co. (“Custodian”) or posted as
collateral to support USOF’s investments in oil interests.
All interest income earned on these investments will be retained
for USOF’s benefit. |
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American Stock Exchange Symbol |
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USO |
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Creation and Redemption |
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Authorized Purchasers will pay a $1,000 fee for the creation or
redemption of each Creation Basket. Authorized Purchasers will
not be required to sell any specific number or dollar amount of
units. The per unit price of units offered in subsequent
Creation Baskets on any subsequent day will be the total NAV of
USOF calculated shortly after the close of the American Stock
Exchange on that day divided by the number of issued and
outstanding units. |
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Withdrawal |
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As discussed in the LP Agreement, if the General Partner gives
at least fifteen (15) days’ written notice to a
limited partner, then the General Partner may for any reason, in
its sole discretion, require any such limited partner to
withdraw entirely from the partnership or to withdraw a portion
of his partner capital account. If the General Partner does not
give at least fifteen (15) days’ written notice to a
limited partner, then it may only require withdrawal of all or
any portion of the capital account of any limited partner in the
following circumstances: |
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(i) the unitholder made a misrepresentation to the General
Partner in connection with its purchase of units; or
(ii) the limited partner’s ownership of units would
result in the violation of any law or regulations applicable to
the partnership or a partner. |
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Registration Clearance and Settlement |
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Individual certificates will not be issued for the units.
Instead, units will be represented by one or more global
certificates, which will be deposited by the Custodian with the
Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) and registered in the
name of Cede & Co., as nominee for DTC. The global
certificates evidence all of the units outstanding at any time.
Unitholders 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
units through DTC Participants or Indirect Participants, in each
case who satisfy the requirements for transfers of units. DTC
Participants acting on behalf of investors holding units through
such participants’ accounts in DTC will follow the delivery
practice applicable to securities eligible for DTC’s
Same-Day Funds Settlement System. Units will be credited to DTC
Participants’ securities accounts following confirmation of
receipt of payment. |
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The administrator, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
(“Administrator”) has been appointed registrar and
transfer agent for the purpose of registering and transferring
units. The General Partner will only recognize transfer of units
only if such transfer is done on accordance with the LP
Agreement, including the delivery of a transfer application. |
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Net Asset Value |
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The NAV is calculated by taking the current market value of
USOF’s total assets and subtracting any liabilities. Under
USOF’s current operational procedures, the Administrator
calculates the NAV of USOF’s units as of the earlier of
4:00 p.m. New York time or the close of the New York
Stock Exchange each day. The American Stock Exchange currently
calculates an approximate net asset value every 15 seconds
throughout each day USOF’s units are traded on the American
Stock Exchange for as long as the New York Mercantile
Exchange’s main pricing mechanism is open. |
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Fund Expenses |
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USOF will pay the General Partner a management fee of 0.50% of
NAV on the first $1,000,000,000 of assets and 0.20% of NAV after
the first $1,000,000,000 of assets. Brokerage fees for
Treasuries, Oil Futures Contracts, and Other Oil Interests are
estimated to be 0.35% and will be paid to unaffiliated brokers.
USOF will also pay the future commission merchant’s fee
which is estimated to be $9.00 per buy or sell. The General
Partner, and not USOF, is responsible for payment of the fees of
USOF’s Marketing Agent, Administrator and Custodian. USOF
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the General Partner may be required to indemnify the Marketing
Agent, Administrator or Custodian under certain circumstances. |
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Termination Events |
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USOF shall continue in effect from the date of its formation in
perpetuity, unless sooner terminated upon the occurrence of any
one or more of the following events: the death, adjudication of
incompetence, bankruptcy, dissolution, withdrawal, or removal of
a General Partner who is the sole remaining General Partner,
unless a majority in interest of limited partners within ninety
(90) days after such 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. Upon termination of the
partnership, the affairs of the partnership shall be wound up
and all of its debts and liabilities discharged or otherwise
provided for in the order of priority as provided by law. The
fair market value of the remaining assets of the partnership
shall then be determined by the General Partner. Thereupon, the
assets of the partnership shall be distributed pro rata to the
partners in accordance with their units. |
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Authorized Purchasers |
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We expect the initial Authorized Purchaser to be KV Execution
Services, LLC. We expect subsequent Authorized Purchasers to
purchase or redeem Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets,
respectively, from or to USOF. Authorized Purchasers 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, and (2) DTC Participants. To
become an Authorized Purchaser, a person must enter into an
Authorized Purchaser Agreement with the General Partner. |
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10
What Are the Risk Factors Involved with an Investment in
USOF?
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, including
USOF’s financial statements and the related notes.
Risks Associated With Investing Directly or Indirectly in
Oil
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Investing in oil interests subjects USOF to the risks of
the crude oil industry and this could result in large
fluctuations in the price of USOF’s units. |
USOF is subject to the risks and hazards of the crude oil
industry because it invests in oil interests. The risks and
hazards that are inherent in the oil industry may cause the
price of oil to widely fluctuate. If USOF’s units
accurately track the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil,
then the price of its units may also fluctuate.
The risks of crude oil drilling and production activities
include the following:
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no commercially productive crude oil or natural gas reservoirs
will be found; |
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crude oil and natural gas drilling and production activities may
be shortened, delayed or canceled; |
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the ability to of an oil producer to develop, produce and market
reserves may be limited by: |
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title problems, |
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political conflicts, including war |
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weather conditions, |
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compliance with governmental requirements, |
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refinery capacity, and |
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mechanical difficulties or shortages or delays in the delivery
of drilling rigs and other equipment; |
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decisions of the cartel of oil producing countries (e.g.,
OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), to
produce more or less oil; |
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increases in oil production due to price rises may make it more
economical to extract oil from additional sources and may later
temper further oil price increases; |
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economic activity of users, as certain economies’ oil
consumption increases (e.g., China, India) and as
economies contract (in a recession or depression), oil demand
and prices fall. |
The crude oil industry experiences numerous operating risks.
These operating risks include the risk of fire, explosions,
blow-outs, pipe failure, abnormally pressured formations and
environmental hazards. Environmental hazards include oil spills,
natural gas leaks, ruptures or discharges of toxic gases.
Crude oil operations also are subject to various
U.S. federal, state and local regulations that materially
affect operations. Matters regulated include discharge permits
for drilling operations, drilling and abandonment bonds, reports
concerning operations, the spacing of wells and pooling of
properties and taxation. At various times, regulatory agencies
have imposed price controls and limitations on production. In
order to conserve supplies of crude oil and natural gas, these
agencies have restricted the rates of flow of crude oil and
natural gas wells below actual production capacity. Federal,
state, and local laws regulate production, handling, storage,
transportation and disposal of crude oil and natural gas,
by-products from crude oil and natural gas and other substances
and materials produced or used in connection with crude oil and
natural gas operations.
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The price of USOF’s units may be influenced by
factors such as the short-term supply and demand for oil and the
short-term supply and demand for USOF’s units. This may
cause the units to trade at a price that is above or below
USOF’s NAV per unit. Accordingly, the price of units may
substantially vary from the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude
oil. If this variation occurs, then you may not be able to
effectively use USOF as a way to hedge against oil-related
losses or as a way to indirectly invest in oil. |
While it is expected that the trading prices of units will
fluctuate in accordance with changes in USOF’s NAV, the
prices of units may also be influenced by other factors,
including the short-term supply and demand for oil and the
units. There is no guarantee that the units will not trade at
appreciable discounts from, and/or premiums to, USOF’s NAV.
This could cause the price of units to substantially vary from
the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil. This may be
harmful to you because if the price of units varies
substantially from the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil,
then you may not be able to effectively use USOF as a way to
hedge the risk of losses in your oil-related transactions or as
a way to indirectly invest in oil.
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USOF’s NAV may not correlate with the price of the
Benchmark Oil Futures Contract. If this were to occur, you may
not be able to effectively use USOF as a way to hedge against
oil-related losses or as a way to indirectly invest
in oil. |
The General Partner will endeavor to invest USOF’s assets
as fully as possible in short-term Oil Futures
Contracts and
Other Oil Interests so that the NAV will closely correlate with
the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract. However,
USOF’s NAV may not correlate with the price of the
Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract for several reasons as set forth
below:
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USOF (i) may not be able to buy/sell the exact amount of
Oil Futures Contracts and Other Oil Interests to have a perfect
correlation with NAV; (ii) may not always be able to buy
and sell Oil Futures Contracts or Other Oil Interests at the
market price; (iii) may not experience a perfect
correlation between the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil
and the underlying investments in Oil Futures Contracts and
Other Oil Interests and Treasuries; and (iv) is required to
pay brokerage fees and the management fee, which will have an
effect on the correlation. |
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Short-term supply and demand for WTI light, sweet crude oil may
cause the market price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract to
vary from USOF’s NAV if USOF has fully invested in Oil
Futures Contracts that do not reflect such supply and demand and
it is unable to replace such contracts with Oil Futures
Contracts that do reflect such supply and demand. In addition,
there are also technical differences between the two markets,
e.g., one is a physical market while the other is a futures
market traded on exchanges, that may cause a variations between
the spot price of oil and the prices of related futures
contracts. |
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USOF plans to buy only as many Oil Futures Contracts and Other
Oil Interests that it can to get the NAV as close as possible to
the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract. The remainder
of its assets will be invested in Treasuries, cash and cash
equivalents and will be used to satisfy initial margin and
additional margin requirements, if any, and to otherwise support
its investments in oil interests. Investments in Treasuries,
cash and cash equivalents, both directly and as margin, will
provide rates of return that will vary from changes in the value
of the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil. |
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In addition, because USOF will incur certain expenses in
connection with its investment activities, and will hold most of
its assets in more liquid short-term securities for margin and
other liquidity purposes and for redemptions that may be
necessary on an ongoing basis, the General Partner will not be
able to fully invest USOF’s assets in Oil Futures Contracts
or Other Oil Interests and there cannot be perfect correlation
between USOF’s NAV and the price of the Benchmark Oil
Futures Contract. |
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As USOF grows, there may be more or less correlation. For
example, if USOF only has enough money to buy three Benchmark
Oil Futures Contracts and it needs to buy four contracts to track |
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the price of oil then the correlation will be lower, but if it
buys 20,000 Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts and it needs to
buy 20,001 contracts then the correlation will be higher.
At certain asset levels, USOF may be limited in its ability to
purchase the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract or other Oil Futures
Contracts due to speculative position limits imposed by the
relevant exchanges. To the extent that USOF invests in these
other Oil Futures Contracts or Other Oil Interests the
correlation with the Benchmark Oil Futures Contracts may be
lower. If USOF is required to invest in other Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests that are less correlated with
the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract, USOF would likely invest in
over-the-counter
contracts to increase the level of correlation of USOF’s
assets.
Over-the-counter
contracts entail certain risks described below under
“Over-the-Counter
Contract Risk.” |
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USOF may not be able to buy the exact number of Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests to have a perfect correlation
with NAV if the purchase price of Oil Futures Contracts required
to be fully invested in such contracts is higher than the
proceeds received for the sale of a Creation Basket on the day
the basket was sold. In such case, USOF could not invest the
entire proceeds from the purchase of the Creation Basket in such
futures contracts (for example, assume USOF receives $6,679,000
for the sale of a Creation Basket and assume that the price of
an Oil Futures Contract for WTI light, sweet crude oil is
$66,800, then USOF could only invest in only 99 Oil Futures
Contracts with an aggregate value of $6,613,200). USOF would be
required to invest a percentage of the proceeds in Treasuries to
be deposited as margin with the futures commission merchant
through which the contract was purchased. The remainder of the
purchase price for the Creation Basket would remain invested in
cash and Treasuries as determined by the General Partner from
time to time based on factors such as potential calls for margin
or anticipated redemptions. If the trading market for Oil
Futures Contracts is suspended or closed, USOF may not be able
to purchase these investments at the last reported price for
such investments. |
If USOF’s NAV does not correlate with the price of the
Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract, then investing in USOF may not
be an effective way to hedge against oil-related losses or
indirectly invest in oil.
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The Benchmark Oil Futures Contract may not correlate with
the spot price of WTI light, sweet, crude oil and this could
cause the price of units to substantially vary from the spot
price of WTI light, sweet crude oil. If this were to occur, then
you may not be able to effectively use USOF as a way to hedge
against oil-related losses or as a way to indirectly invest
in oil. |
When using the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract as a strategy to
track the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil, at best the
correlation between changes in prices of such oil interests and
the spot price can be only approximate. The degree of
imperfection of correlation depends upon circumstances such as
variations in the speculative oil market, supply of and demand
for such oil interests and technical influences in oil futures
trading. If there is a weak correlation between the oil
interests and the spot price of WTI light, sweet, crude oil,
then the price of units may not accurately track the spot price
of WTI light, sweet crude oil and you may not be able to
effectively use USOF as a way to hedge the risk of losses in
your oil-related transactions or as a way to indirectly invest
in oil.
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USOF may experience a loss if it is required to sell
Treasuries at a price lower than the price at which they were
acquired. |
The value of Treasuries generally moves inversely with movements
in interest rates. If USOF is required to sell Treasuries at a
price lower than the price at which they were acquired, USOF
will experience a loss. This loss may adversely impact the price
of the units and may decrease the correlation between the price
of the units, the price of USOF’s Oil Futures
Contracts and
Other Oil Interests, and the spot price of WTI light, sweet
crude oil.
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Certain of USOF’s investments could be illiquid which
could cause large losses to investors at any time or from time
to time. |
USOF may not always be able to liquidate its positions in its
investments 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 a foreign government taking political actions that
disrupt the market in its currency, its oil production or
exports, or in another major export, can also make it difficult
to liquidate a position. Alternatively, limits imposed by
futures exchanges or other regulatory organizations, such as
speculative position limits and daily price fluctuation limits,
may contribute to a lack of liquidity with respect to some
commodity interests.
Unexpected market illiquidity may cause major losses to
investors at any time or from time to time. In addition, USOF
does not intend at this time to establish a credit facility,
which would provide an additional source of liquidity and
instead will rely only on the Treasuries and cash that it holds.
The large value of the positions in certain investments, e.g.,
Oil Futures
Contracts, or in negotiated over-the-counter
contracts that the General Partner will acquire or enter into
for USOF, increases the risk of illiquidity. Such positions may
be more difficult to liquidate at favorable prices and there is
an additional risk that losses may be incurred during the period
in which positions are being liquidated. The Other Oil Interests
that USOF invests in may have a greater likelihood of being
illiquid since they are
contracts between two parties that take
into account not only market risk, but also the relative credit,
tax, and settlement risks under such
contracts. In addition,
such
contracts have limited transferability that results from
such risks and the
contract’s express limitations. USOF
anticipates that it will invest in Other Oil Interests as a
result of the speculative position limits on the New York
Mercantile Exchange or other exchanges.
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If the nature of hedgors and speculators in futures
markets has shifted such that oil purchasers are the predominant
hedgors in the market, USOF might have to reinvest at higher
futures prices or choose Other Oil Interests. |
The changing nature of the hedgors and speculators in the oil
market will influence whether futures prices are above or below
the expected future spot price. In order to induce speculators
to take the corresponding long side of the same futures
contract, oil producers must generally be willing to sell
futures
contracts at prices that are below expected future spot
prices. Conversely, if the predominant hedgors in the futures
market are the purchasers of the oil who purchase futures
contracts to hedge against a rise in prices, then speculators
will only take the short side of the futures
contract if the
futures price is greater than the expected future spot price of
oil. This can have significant implications for USOF when it is
time to reinvest the proceeds from a maturing futures
contract
into a new futures
contract.
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While USOF does not intend to take physical delivery of
oil under Oil Futures Contracts, physical delivery under such
contracts impacts the value of the contracts. |
While it is not the current intention of USOF to take physical
delivery of oil under its Oil Futures
Contracts, futures
contracts are not required to be cash-settled and it is possible
to take delivery under these
contracts. Storage costs associated
with purchasing oil could result in costs and other liabilities
that could impact the value of Oil Futures
Contracts or Other
Oil Interests. Storage costs include the time value of money
invested in oil as a physical commodity plus the actual costs of
storing the oil less any benefits from ownership of oil that are
not obtained by the holder of a futures
contract. In general,
Oil Futures
Contracts have a one-month delay for
contract
delivery and the back month (the back month is any future
delivery month other than the spot month) includes storage
costs. To the extent that these storage costs change for oil
while USOF holds Oil Futures
Contracts or Other Oil Interests,
the value of the Oil Futures
Contracts or Other Oil Interests,
and therefore USOF’s NAV, may change as well.
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Regulation of the commodity interests and energy markets
is extensive and constantly changing; future regulatory
developments are impossible to predict but may significantly and
adversely affect USOF. |
The regulation of commodity interest transactions in the United
States is a rapidly changing area of law and is subject to
ongoing modification by government and judicial action. In
addition, various national governments 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 USOF
is impossible to predict, but could be substantial and adverse.
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If you are investing in USOF for purposes of hedging, you
might be subject to several risks including the possibility of
losing the benefit of favorable market movement. |
While USOF will not engage in hedging strategies, participants
in the oil or in other industries may use USOF as a vehicle to
hedge the risk of losses in their oil-related transactions.
There are several risks in connection with using USOF as a
hedging device. While hedging can provide protection against an
adverse movement in market prices, it can also preclude a
hedger’s opportunity to benefit from a favorable market
movement. In a hedging transaction, the hedgor may be concerned
that the hedged item will increase in price, but must recognize
the risk that the price may instead decline and if this happens
he will have lost his opportunity to profit from the change in
price because the hedging transaction will result in a loss
rather than a gain. Thus, the hedgor foregoes the opportunity to
profit from favorable price movements.
In addition, if the hedge is not a perfect one, the hedgor can
lose on the hedging transaction and not realize an offsetting
gain in the value of the underlying item being hedged.
When using futures
contracts as a hedging technique, at best,
the correlation between changes in prices of futures
contracts
and of the items being hedged can be only approximate. The
degree of imperfection of correlation depends upon circumstances
such as: variations in speculative markets, demand for futures
and for oil products, technical influences in futures trading,
and differences between anticipated energy costs being hedged
and the instruments underlying the standard futures
contracts
available for trading. Even a well-conceived hedge may be
unsuccessful to some degree because of unexpected market
behavior as well as the expenses associated with creating the
hedge.
In addition, using an investment in USOF as a hedge for changes
in energy costs (e.g., investing in oil, gasoline, or
other fuels, or electricity) may not correlate because changes
in the spot price of oil may vary from changes in energy costs
because the spot price of oil does not reflect the refining,
transportation, and other costs that may impact the
hedger’s energy costs.
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An investment in USOF may provide you little or no
diversification benefits. Thus, in a declining market, USOF may
have no gains to offset your losses from other investments, and
you may suffer losses on your investment in USOF at the same
time you incur losses with respect to other asset
classes. |
Historically, Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests 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, USOF’s performance were to
move in the same general direction as the financial markets, you
will obtain little or no diversification benefits from an
investment in the units. In such a case, USOF may have no gains
to offset your losses from other investments, and you may suffer
losses on your investment in USOF at the same time you incur
losses with respect to other investments.
Variables such as drought, floods, weather, embargoes, tariffs
and other political events may have a larger impact on oil
prices and oil-linked instruments, including Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests, than on traditional
securities. These additional variables may create additional
investment risks that subject USOF’s investments to greater
volatility than investments in traditional securities.
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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 historic evidence that the
spot price of oil and prices of other financial assets, such as
stocks and bonds, are negatively correlated. In the absence of
negative correlation, USOF cannot be expected to be
automatically profitable during unfavorable periods for the
stock market, or vice versa.
USOF’s Operating Risks
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USOF is not a regulated investment company so you do not
have the protections of the Investment Company Act
of 1940. |
USOF is not an investment company subject to the Investment
Company Act of 1940. Accordingly, you 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.
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USOF has no operating history so there is no performance
history to serve as a basis for you to evaluate an investment
in USOF. |
USOF is new and has no operating history. Therefore, you do not
have the benefit of reviewing the past performance of USOF as a
basis for you to evaluate an investment in USOF.
Mr. Nicholas Gerber (discussed below) is the only principal
that has any experience operating a commodity pool.
Mr. Gerber ran the Marc Stevens Futures Index Fund (further
discussed below) over 10 years ago. This fund combined
investments in commodity futures and equity stock index futures
and had under $1 million of assets. Mr. Gerber sold
the fund to Newport Commodities.
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The General Partner is leanly staffed and relies heavily
on key personnel to manage trading activities. |
In managing and directing the
day-to-day activities
and affairs of USOF, the General Partner relies heavily on
Mr. Nicholas Gerber, Mr. John Love and Mr. John
Hyland (all discussed in greater detail below). If
Mr. Gerber, Mr. Love or Mr. Hyland were to leave
or be unable to carry out their present responsibilities, it may
have an adverse effect on the management of USOF. Furthermore,
Mr. Gerber and Mr. Love are also employed by
Ameristock Corporation, a registered investment adviser that
manages a public mutual fund. USOF estimates that
Mr. Gerber will spend approximately 50% of his time on USOF
matters and Mr. Love will spend approximately 30% of his time on
USOF matters.
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There are position limits and the potential of tracking
error, which could cause the price of units to substantially
vary from the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil and you
may not be able to effectively use USOF as a way to hedge
against oil-related losses or as a way to indirectly invest
in oil. |
Exchanges may have position limits. For example, the New York
Mercantile Exchange will only allow any one investor to own a
net 20,000
contracts for WTI light, sweet crude oil futures
contract for all months. In addition, the New York Mercantile
Exchange will only allow only 2,000
contracts to be held in
the last 3 days of trading in the spot month before
expiration by any one investor. These limits could potentially
cause a Tracking Error if USOF’s assets grow to a level
that would cause it to meet these limits. A Tracking Error is
the possibility that the daily NAV of USOF will not track the
spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil. On
September 29,
2005, the price of the November Near Month Oil Futures
Contract
traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange was $66,790. At
that price, assuming it was fully invested in those
contracts,
USOF would not be able to purchase additional
contracts once its
assets reached $1,335,800,000 ($66,790 × 20,000
contracts).
USOF is not limiting the size of the offering and is committed
to utilizing substantially all of its proceeds to purchase Oil
Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests. If USOF encounters
position limits for oil
contracts on the New York Mercantile
Exchange, it may then, if permitted under applicable regulatory
requirements, purchase futures
contracts on the ICE Futures
(formerly, the International Petroleum Exchange) or the
Singapore Exchange. The futures
contracts available on the ICE
Futures or
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the Singapore Exchange are comparable to the
contracts on the
New York Mercantile Exchange, but they have different underlying
commodities, sizes, deliveries, and prices.
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There are technical and fundamental risks inherent in the
trading system the General Partner intends
to employ. |
The General Partner’s trading system is quantitative in
nature and it is possible that the General Partner might make a
mathematical error. In addition, it is also possible that a
computer or software program may malfunction and cause an error
in computation.
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USOF and the General Partner may have conflicts of
interest, which may permit them to favor their own interests to
your detriment. |
USOF and the General Partner may have inherent conflicts to the
extent the General Partner attempts to maintain USOF’s
asset size in order to preserve its fee income and this may not
always be consistent with USOF’s objective of tracking the
spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil. The General
Partner’s officers, directors and employees do not devote
their time exclusively to USOF. These persons are directors,
officers or employees of other entities that may compete with
USOF for their services. They could have a conflict between
their responsibilities to USOF and to those other entities.
In addition, the General Partner’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 USOF
trades using the clearing broker to be used by USOF. A potential
conflict also may occur if the General Partner’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 USOF.
The General Partner has sole current authority to manage the
investments and operations of USOF, 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 the ability to influence
matters such as amendment of the LP Agreement, change in
USOF’s basic investment policy, dissolution of this fund,
or the sale or distribution of USOF’s assets.
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Only limited partners have voting rights, and such rights
are limited. Limited partners will not participate in the
management of USOF and do not control the General Partner so
they will not have influence over basic matters that affect
USOF. |
Unitholders that have not applied to become limited partners
have no voting rights. Limited partners will have limited voting
rights with respect to USOF’s affairs and may remove the
General Partner only if
662/3%
of the limited partners elect to do so. Limited partners will
not be permitted to participate in the management or control of
USOF or the conduct of its business. Limited partners must
therefore rely upon the duties and judgment of the General
Partner to manage USOF’s affairs.
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The General Partner may manage a large amount of assets
and this could affect USOF’s ability to trade
profitably. |
Increases in assets under management may affect trading
decisions. In general, the General Partner does not intend to
limit the amount of assets of USOF that it may manage. The more
assets the General Partner manages, the more difficult it may be
for it to trade profitably because of the difficulty of trading
larger positions without adversely affecting prices and
performance and of managing risk associated with larger
positions.
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USOF could terminate at any time and cause the liquidation
and potential loss of your investment and could upset the
overall maturity and timing of your investment portfolio. |
USOF may terminate at any time, regardless of whether USOF has
incurred losses, subject to the terms of the LP Agreement. In
particular, unforeseen circumstances, including the death,
adjudication of incompetence, bankruptcy, dissolution, or
removal of the General Partner could cause USOF 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 interest of the limited partners subject to
conditions. However, no level of losses will require the General
Partner to terminate USOF. USOF’s termination would cause
the liquidation and potential loss of your investment.
Termination could also negatively affect the overall maturity
and timing of your investment portfolio.
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Limited Partners may not 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
our obligation 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 our capital
securities representing limited partnership interests. However,
a limited partner may be required to repay to us any amounts
wrongfully returned or distributed to it under some
circumstances. Under Delaware law, we may not make a
distribution to limited partners if the distribution causes our
liabilities (other than liabilities to partners on account of
their partnership interests and nonrecourse liabilities) to
exceed the fair value of our 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.
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With adequate notice, a limited partner may be required to
withdraw from the partnership for any reason. |
If the General Partner gives at least fifteen
(15) days’ written notice to a limited partner, then
the General Partner may for any reason, in its sole discretion,
require any such limited partner to withdraw entirely from the
partnership or to withdraw a portion of his partner capital
account. The General Partner may require withdrawal even in
situations where the limited partner has complied completely
with the provisions of the LP Agreement.
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USOF’s existing units are, and any units USOF issues
in the future will be, subject to restrictions on transfer.
Failure to satisfy these requirements will preclude you from
being able to have all the rights of a limited partner. |
No transfer of any unit or interest therein may be made if such
transfer would (a) violate the then applicable federal or
state securities laws or rules and regulations of the SEC, any
state securities commission, the CFTC or any other governmental
authorities with jurisdiction over such transfer, (b) cause
USOF to be taxable as a corporation or affect USOF’s
existence or qualification as a limited partnership. In
addition, investors may only become limited partners if they
transfer their units to purchasers that meet certain conditions
outlined in the LP Agreement, which provides that each record
holder or limited partner or unitholder applying to become a
limited partner (each a record holder) may be required by the
General Partner to furnish certain information, including that
holder’s nationality, citizenship or other related status.
A transferee who is not a U.S. resident may not be eligible
to become a record holder or a limited partner if its ownership
would subject USOF to the risk of cancellation or forfeiture of
any of its assets under any federal, state or local law or
regulation. All purchasers of USOF’s units, who wish to
become limited partners or 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
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must certify that, among other things, he, she or it agrees to
be bound by USOF’s LP Agreement and is eligible to purchase
USOF’s securities. Any transfer of units will not be
recorded by the transfer agent or recognized by us unless a
completed transfer application is delivered to the General
Partner or the Administrator. A person purchasing USOF’s
existing units, 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 the General Partner
obtained, our units will be securities and will be transferable
according to the laws governing transfers of securities. See
“Transfer of Units.”
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USOF does not expect to make cash distributions. |
The General Partner intends to re-invest any realized gains in
additional oil interests rather than distributing cash to
limited partners. 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, USOF generally does not expect to distribute
cash to limited partners. You should not invest in USOF if you
will need cash distributions from USOF to pay taxes on your
share of income and gains of USOF, if any, or for any other
reason. Although USOF 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.
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There is a risk that USOF will not earn trading gains
sufficient to compensate for the fees and expenses that it must
pay and as such USOF may not earn any profit. |
USOF pays brokerage charges of approximately 0.35% futures
commission merchant fees of $9.00 per buy or sell, management
fees of 0.50% of NAV on the first $1,000,000,000 of assets and
0.20% of NAV after the first $1,000,000,000 of assets, and
over-the-counter
spreads and extraordinary expenses (i.e. 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 the General Partner on USOF’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 can not be quantified. These fees and expenses
must be paid in all cases regardless of whether USOF’s
activities are profitable. Accordingly, USOF must earn trading
gains sufficient to compensate for these fees and expenses
before it can earn any profit.
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USOF, to date, has depended upon its affiliates to pay all
its expenses. If this offering of units does not raise
sufficient funds to pay USOF’s future expenses, its
affiliates no longer pay such expenses and no other source of
funding of expenses is found, USOF will terminate and investors
may lose all or part of their investment. |
To date, all of USOF’s and the General Partner’s
expenses have been funded by their affiliates. These affiliates
are under no obligation to continue payment of USOF’s or
the General Partner’s expenses. If such affiliates were to
discontinue the payment of these expenses and the General
Partner and USOF are unsuccessful in raising sufficient funds to
cover its expenses or in locating any other source of funding,
USOF will terminate and investors may lose all or part of their
investment.
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USOF may incur higher fees and expenses upon renewing
existing or entering into new contractual relationships. |
The clearing arrangements between the clearing brokers and USOF
generally are terminable by the clearing brokers once the
clearing broker has given USOF notice. Upon termination, the
General Partner may be required to renegotiate or make other
arrangements for obtaining similar services if USOF intends to
continue trading in Oil Futures
Contracts or Other Oil Interest
contracts at its present level of capacity.
19
The services of any clearing broker may not be available, or
even if available, these services may not be available on the
terms as favorable as those of the expired or terminated
clearing arrangements.
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USOF may miss certain trading opportunities because it
will not receive the benefit of the expertise of trading
advisors. |
The General Partner does not employ trading advisors for USOF;
however, it reserves the right to employ them in the future. The
only advisor to USOF is the General Partner. A lack of trading
advisors may be disadvantageous to USOF because it will not
receive the benefit of the trading advisors’ expertise.
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An unanticipated number of redemption requests during a
short period of time could have an adverse effect on the NAV of
USOF. |
If a substantial number of requests for redemption of Redemption
Baskets are received by USOF during a relatively short period of
time, USOF may not be able to satisfy the requests from
USOF’s assets not committed to trading. As a consequence,
it could be necessary to liquidate positions in USOF’s
trading positions before the time that the trading strategies
would otherwise dictate liquidation.
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The failure or bankruptcy of a clearing broker could
result in a substantial loss of USOF’s assets. |
Under CFTC regulations, a clearing broker maintains
customers’ assets in a bulk segregated account. If a
clearing broker fails to do so, or is unable to satisfy a
substantial deficit in a customer account, its other customers
may be subject to risk of loss of their funds in the event of
that clearing broker’s bankruptcy. In that event, the
clearing broker’s customers, such as USOF, are entitled to
recover, even in respect of property specifically traceable to
them, only a proportional share of all property available for
distribution to all of that clearing broker’s customers.
USOF also may be subject to the risk of the failure of, or delay
in performance by, any exchanges and markets and their clearing
organizations, if any, on which commodity interest
contracts are
traded.
From time to time, the clearing brokers may be subject to legal
or regulatory proceedings in the ordinary course of their
business. A clearing broker’s involvement in costly or
time-consuming legal proceedings may divert financial resources
or personnel away from the clearing broker’s trading
operations, which could impair the clearing broker’s
ability to successfully execute and clear USOF’s trades.
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Third parties may infringe or otherwise violate
intellectual property rights or assert that the General Partner
has infringed or otherwise violated their intellectual property
rights, which may result in significant costs and diverted
attention. |
Third parties may utilize USOF’s intellectual property or
technology, including the use of its business methods,
trademarks and trading program software, without permission.
USOF has a patent pending for its business method and it is
registering its trademarks. USOF does not currently have any
proprietary software. However, if it obtains proprietary
software in the future, then any unauthorized use of USOF’s
proprietary software and other technology could also adversely
affect its competitive advantage. USOF may have difficulty
monitoring unauthorized uses of its patents, trademarks,
proprietary software and other technology. Also, third parties
may independently develop business methods, trademarks or
proprietary software and other technology similar to that of the
General Partner or claim that the General Partner has violated
their intellectual property rights, including their copyrights,
trademark rights, trade names, trade secrets and patent rights.
As a result, the General Partner may have to litigate in the
future to protect its trade secrets, determine the validity and
scope of other parties’ proprietary rights, defend itself
against claims that it has infringed or otherwise violated other
parties’ rights, or defend itself against claims that its
rights are invalid. Any litigation of this type, even if the
General Partner is successful and regardless of the merits, may
result in significant costs, divert its resources from USOF, or
require it to change its proprietary software and other
technology or enter into royalty or licensing agreements.
20
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The success of USOF depends on the ability of the General
Partner to accurately implement trading systems, and any failure
to do so could subject USOF to losses on such
transactions. |
The General Partner anticipates using mathematical formulas
built into a generally available spreadsheet program to decide
whether it should buy or sell oil interests each day.
Specifically, the General Partner anticipates using the
spreadsheet to make mathematical calculations and to monitor
positions in oil interests and Treasuries and correlations to
the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil. The General
Partner must accurately process the spreadsheets’ outputs
and execute the transactions called for by the formulas. In
addition, USOF relies on the General Partner to properly operate
and maintain its computer and communications systems. Execution
of the formulas and operation of the systems are subject to
human error. Any failure, inaccuracy or delay in implementing
any of the formulas or systems and executing USOF’s
transactions could impair its ability to achieve USOF’s
investment objective. It could also result in decisions to
undertake transactions based on inaccurate or incomplete
information. This could cause substantial losses on transactions.
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USOF may experience substantial losses on transactions if
the computers or communications systems fail. |
USOF’s trading activities, including its risk management,
depend on the integrity and performance of the computer and
communications systems supporting them. Extraordinary
transaction volume, hardware or software failure, power or
telecommunications failure, a natural disaster or other
catastrophe could cause the computer systems to operate at an
unacceptably slow speed or even fail. Any significant
degradation or failure of the systems that the General Partner
uses to gather and analyze information, enter orders, process
data, monitor risk levels and otherwise engage in trading
activities may result in substantial losses on transactions,
liability to other parties, lost profit opportunities, damages
to the General Partner’s and USOF’s reputations,
increased operational expenses and diversion of technical
resources.
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If the computer and communications systems are not
upgraded, USOF’s financial condition could be
harmed. |
The development of complex communications and new technologies
may render the existing computer and communications systems
supporting USOF’s trading activities obsolete. In addition,
these computer and communications systems must be compatible
with those of third parties, such as the systems of exchanges,
clearing brokers and the executing brokers. As a result, if
these third parties upgrade their systems, the General Partner
will need to make corresponding upgrades to continue effectively
its trading activities. USOF’s future success will depend
on USOF’s ability to respond to changing technologies on a
timely and cost-effective basis.
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USOF depends on the reliable performance of the computer
and communications systems of third parties, such as brokers and
futures exchanges, and may experience substantial losses on
transactions if they fail. |
USOF depends on the proper and timely function of complex
computer and communications systems maintained and operated by
the futures exchanges, brokers and other data providers that the
General Partner uses to conduct trading activities. Failure or
inadequate performance of any of these systems could adversely
affect the General Partner’s ability to complete
transactions, including its ability to close out positions, and
result in lost profit opportunities and significant losses on
commodity interest transactions. This could have a material
adverse effect on revenues and materially reduce USOF’s
available capital. For example, unavailability of price
quotations from third parties may make it difficult or
impossible for the General Partner to use its proprietary
software that it relies upon to conduct its trading activities.
Unavailability of records from brokerage firms may make it
difficult or impossible for the General Partner to accurately
determine which transactions have been executed or the details,
including price and time, of any transaction executed. This
unavailability of information also may make it difficult or
impossible for the General Partner to reconcile its records of
transactions with those of another party or to accomplish
settlement of executed transactions.
21
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The occurrence of a terrorist attack, or the outbreak,
continuation or expansion of war or other hostilities could
disrupt USOF’s trading activity and materially affect
USOF’s profitability. |
The operations of USOF, the exchanges, brokers and
counterparties with which USOF does business, and the markets in
which USOF does business could be severely disrupted in the
event of a major terrorist attack or the outbreak, continuation
or expansion of war or other hostilities. The terrorist attacks
of
September 11, 2001 and the war in Iraq, global
anti-terrorism initiatives and political unrest in the Middle
East and Southeast Asia continue to fuel this concern.
Risk of Leverage and Volatility
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If the General Partner permits USOF to become leveraged,
you could lose all or substantially all of your investment if
USOF’s trading positions suddenly turn unprofitable. |
Commodity pools’ trading positions in futures
contracts or
other commodity interests 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
interests’) entire face value. This feature permits
commodity pools to
“leverage” their assets by
purchasing or selling futures
contracts (or other commodity
interests) with an aggregate value in excess of the commodity
pool’s assets. While this leverage can increase the
pool’s profits, relatively small adverse movements in the
price of the pool’s futures
contracts can cause significant
losses to the pool. While the General Partner does not currently
intend to leverage USOF’s assets, it is not prohibited from
doing so under the LP Agreement or otherwise.
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The price of oil is volatile which could cause large
fluctuations in the price of units. |
Movements in the price of oil may be the result of factors
outside of the General Partner’s control and may not be
anticipated by the General Partner. For example, price movements
for barrels of oil are influenced by, among other things:
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changes in interest rates; |
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actions by oil producing countries such as the OPEC countries; |
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governmental, agricultural, trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange
control programs and policies; |
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weather and climate conditions; |
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changing supply and demand relationships, including but not
limited to increased demand by other countries such as China; |
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changes in balances of payments and trade; |
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U.S. and international rates of inflation; |
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currency devaluations and revaluations; |
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U.S. and international political and economic events; and |
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changes in philosophies and emotions of market participants. |
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Over-the-counter
transactions are subject to little, if any, regulation. |
A portion of USOF’s assets may be used to trade
over-the-counter oil
interest
contracts, such as forward
contracts or swap or spot
contracts.
Over-the-counter
contracts are typically traded on a
principal-to-principal
basis through dealer markets that are dominated by major money
center and investment banks and other institutions and are
essentially unregulated by the CFTC. You therefore do not
receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory
scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with this
trading activity by USOF. The markets for
over-the-counter
contracts rely upon the integrity of market participants in lieu
of the additional regulation imposed by the CFTC on participants
in
22
the futures markets. The lack of regulation in these markets
could expose USOF in certain circumstances to significant losses
in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by
participants.
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USOF will be subject to credit risk with respect to
counterparties to
over-the-counter
contracts entered into by USOF or held by special purpose or
structured vehicles. |
USOF also faces the risk of non-performance by the
counterparties to the
over-the-counter
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 USOF, in
which case USOF could suffer significant losses on these
contracts.
If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform
its obligations due to financial difficulties, USOF may
experience significant delays in obtaining any recovery in a
bankruptcy or other reorganization proceeding. USOF may obtain
only limited recovery or may obtain no recovery in such
circumstances.
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USOF may be subject to liquidity risk with respect to its
over-the-counter contracts. |
Over-the-counter
contracts may have terms that make them less
marketable than Oil Futures
Contracts.
Over-the-counter
contracts are less marketable 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 diminish the ability to realize
the full value of such
contracts.
Risk of Trading in International Markets
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Trading in international markets would expose USOF to
credit and regulatory risk. |
The General Partner expects to invest primarily in Oil Futures
Contracts a significant portion of which will be on United
States Exchanges including the New York Mercantile Exchange.
However, a portion of USOF’s trades may take place on
markets and exchanges outside the United States. Some
non-U.S. markets
present risks because they are not subject to the same degree of
regulation as their U.S. counterparts. None of the CFTC,
NFA, or any domestic exchange regulates activities of any
foreign boards of trade or exchanges, including the execution,
delivery and clearing of transactions, nor has the power to
compel enforcement of the rules of a foreign board of trade or
exchange or of any applicable
non-U.S. laws.
Similarly, the rights of market participants, such as USOF, in
the event of the insolvency or bankruptcy of a
non-U.S. market or
broker are also likely to be more limited than in the case of
U.S. markets or brokers. As a result, in these markets,
USOF has less legal and regulatory protection than it does when
it trades domestically.
In some of these
non-U.S. markets,
the performance on a
contract is the responsibility of the
counterparty and is not backed by an exchange or clearing
corporation and therefore exposes USOF to credit risk. Trading
in
non-U.S. markets
also leaves USOF susceptible to swings in the value of the local
currency against the U.S. dollar. 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.
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International trading activities subject USOF to foreign
exchange risk. |
The price of any
non-U.S. futures,
options on futures or other commodity interest
contract and,
therefore, the potential profit and loss on such
contract, may
be affected by any variance in the foreign exchange rate between
the time the order is placed and the time it is liquidated,
offset or exercised. As a
23
result, changes in the value of the local currency relative to
the U.S. dollar may cause losses to USOF even if the
contract traded is profitable.
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USOF’s international trading would expose it to
losses resulting from
non-U.S. exchanges
that are less developed or less reliable than United States
exchanges. |
Some
non-U.S. exchanges
also may be in a more developmental stage so that prior price
histories may not be indicative of current price dynamics. In
addition, USOF may not have the same access to certain positions
on foreign trading exchanges as do local traders, and the
historical market data on which General Partner bases its
strategies may not be as reliable or accessible as it is in the
United States.
Tax Risk
Please refer to “U.S. Federal Income Tax
Considerations” for information regarding the
U.S. federal income tax consequences of the purchase,
ownership and disposition of units.
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Your tax liability may exceed the amount of distributions,
if any, on your units. |
Cash or property will be distributed at the sole discretion of
the General Partner, and the General Partner currently does not
intend to make cash or other distributions with respect to
units. You will be required to pay United States federal income
tax and, in some cases, state, local, or foreign income tax, on
your allocable share of USOF’s taxable income, without
regard to whether you receive distributions or the amount of any
distributions. Therefore, your tax liability with respect to
your units may exceed the amount of cash or value of property
(if any) distributed.
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Your allocable share of taxable income or loss may differ
from your economic income or loss on your units. |
Due to the application of the assumptions and conventions
applied by USOF in making allocations for tax purposes and other
factors, your allocable share of USOF’s income, gain,
deduction or loss may be different than your economic profit or
loss from your units for a taxable year. This difference could
be temporary or permanent and, if permanent, could result in
your being taxed on amounts in excess of your economic income.
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Items of income, gain, deduction, loss and credit with
respect to units could be reallocated if the IRS does not accept
the assumptions and conventions applied by USOF in allocating
those items, with potential adverse consequences for you. |
The U.S. tax rules pertaining to partnerships are complex
and their application to large, publicly traded partnerships
such as USOF is in many respects uncertain. USOF will apply
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 unitholders’ economic gains and losses. These
assumptions and conventions may not fully comply with all
aspects of the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) and
applicable Treasury Regulations, however, and it is possible
that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service will successfully
challenge our allocation methods and require us to reallocate
items of income, gain, deduction, loss or credit in a manner
that adversely affects you. If this occurs, you may be required
to file an amended tax return and to pay additional taxes plus
deficiency interest.
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We could be treated as a corporation for federal income
tax purposes, which may substantially reduce the value of your
units. |
USOF has received an opinion of counsel that, under current
U.S. federal income tax laws, USOF 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 USOF’s annual gross income
consists of “qualifying income” as defined in the
Code, (ii) USOF is organized and operated in accordance
with its governing agreements and applicable law and
(iii) USOF does not elect to be taxed as a corporation for
federal income tax purposes. Although the General Partner
anticipates that USOF will satisfy the “qualifying
income”
24
requirement for all of its taxable years, that result cannot be
assured. USOF has not requested and will not request any ruling
from the IRS with respect to its classification as a partnership
not taxable as a corporation for federal income tax purposes. If
the IRS were to successfully assert that USOF is taxable as a
corporation for federal income tax purposes in any taxable year,
rather than passing through its income, gains, losses and
deductions proportionately to unitholders, USOF would be subject
to tax on its net income for the year at corporate tax rates. In
addition, although the General Partner does not currently intend
to make distributions with respect to units, any distributions
would be taxable to unitholders as dividend income. Taxation of
USOF as a corporation could materially reduce the after-tax
return on an investment in units and could substantially reduce
the value of your units.
PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS ARE STRONGLY URGED TO CONSULT THEIR OWN
TAX ADVISORS WITH RESPECT TO THE POSSIBLE TAX CONSEQUENCES TO
THEM OF AN INVESTMENT IN UNITS; SUCH TAX CONSEQUENCES MAY DIFFER
IN RESPECT OF DIFFERENT INVESTORS.
Legal Risks
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Representatives of the New York Mercantile Exchange have
notified USOF of its belief that USOF is engaging in
unauthorized use of such Exchange’s service marks. |
USOF will invest primarily in Oil Futures
Contracts, and
particularly in Oil Futures
Contracts traded on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. Representatives of the New York Mercantile
Exchange have notified USOF of its belief that USOF is engaging
in unauthorized use of such Exchange’s service marks. The
Exchange has claimed that USOF ’s use of the marks will
cause confusion as to USOF’s source, origin, sponsorship or
approval, and constitute infringement of the Exchange’s
trademark rights and unfair competition and dilution of the
Exchange’s marks.
The General Partner has engaged in discussions with the
New York Mercantile Exchange and has changed USOF’s
name. In addition, USOF expressly disclaims any association with
the Exchange or endorsement of USOF by the Exchange and
acknowledges that “NYMEX” and “New York
Mercantile Exchange” are registered trademarks of such
Exchange.
At this time, USOF is unable to determine what the outcome from
this matter will be. If the resolution or lack of resolution of
this matter results in a material restriction on USOF’s
ability to invest in Oil Futures
Contracts traded on the New
York Mercantile Exchange, USOF may not be able to achieve its
investment objective.
If USOF were to enter into an agreement with the New York
Mercantile Exchange, there would be a licensing or other fee as
well as certain limits that would be imposed on USOF’s use
of the New York Mercantile Exchange’s intellectual
property. Such fees and limits could adversely affect the
ability of USOF to meet its investment objective of correlating
the NAV of the units to the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude
oil by increasing USOF’s costs and limiting its investment
options.
The Offering
What is USOF?
USOF is a Delaware limited partnership organized on
May 12,
2005. USOF maintains its main business office at 1320 Harbor Bay
Parkway, Suite 145,
Alameda,
California 94502. USOF is a
commodity pool. It operates pursuant to the terms of the LP
Agreement dated as of
[ ],
[2006], which grants full management control to the General
Partner.
Who is the General Partner?
Our sole General Partner is Victoria Bay Asset Management, LLC
(formerly Standard Asset Management, LLC), a single member
limited liability company that was formed in the state of
Delaware
25
on
May 10, 2005 and which changed its name on
June 10,
2005. It maintains its main business office at 1320 Harbor
Bay Parkway Suite 145
Alameda,
California 94502. The
General Partner is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wainwright
Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation (
“Wainwright”).
Mr. Nicholas Gerber (discussed below) controls
Wainwright by virtue of his ownership of Wainwright’s
shares. Wainwright is a holding company that also owns an
insurance company organized under Bermuda law. The General
Partner is a member of the NFA and is registered with the CFTC
as of
December 1, 2005. The General Partner’s
registration as a CPO with the NFA was approved on
December 1, 2005.
The General Partner is required to evaluate the credit risk for
USOF to the futures commission merchant, oversee the purchases
and sale of USOF’s units by certain Authorized Purchasers,
review daily positions and margin requirements of USOF, and
manage USOF’s investments. The General Partner also pays
the fees of the Marketing Agent, the Administrator, and the
Custodian.
Limited partners have no right to elect the General Partner on
an annual or any other continuing basis. If the General Partner
voluntarily withdraws, however, the holders of a majority of our
outstanding limited partner interests (excluding for purposes of
such determination interests owned by the withdrawing General
Partner and its affiliates) may elect its successor. The General
Partner may not be removed as general partner except upon
approval by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least
662/3 percent
of our outstanding limited partner interests (excluding limited
partner interests owned by the General Partner and its
affiliates), subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions
set forth in the LP Agreement.
The business and affairs of our General Partner are managed by a
board of directors, and will be comprised of four management
directors who are also the executive officers and three
independent directors who meet the independent director
requirements established by the American Stock Exchange and the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The General Partner has an audit
committee which is made up of the three independent directors
(
Peter M. Robinson,
Gordon L. Ellis, and
Malcolm R. Fobes III).
The audit committee is governed by an audit committee charter
that is posted on USOF’s
website. The audit committee does
not have an audit committee financial expert serving on the
audit committee. Through its management directors, the General
Partner manages the
day-to-day operations
of USOF.
Nicholas Gerber has been the President and CEO of the General
Partner since
June 9, 2005 and a Management Director of the
General Partner since
May 10, 2005. He maintains his main
business office at 1320 Harbor Bay Parkway, Suite 145,
Alameda,
California 94502. Mr. Gerber will act as a
portfolio manager for USOF. Mr. Gerber has an extensive
background in securities portfolio management and in developing
investment funds that make use of indexing and futures
contracts. Mr. Gerber is the founder of Ameristock
Corporation, 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 1995. Since 1995, Mr. Gerber has been
the portfolio manager of the Ameristock Mutual Fund, Inc. a
mutual fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940,
focused on large cap U.S. equities that currently has
approximately $800 million in assets. In these roles, Mr.
Gerber has gained extensive experience in evaluating and
retaining third-party service providers, including custodians,
accountants, transfer agents, and distributors. Prior to
managing Ameristock Mutual Fund Inc., Mr. Gerber
served as a portfolio manager with Bank of America Capital
Management. While there he was responsible for the daily
stewardship of four funds with a combined value in excess of
$240 million. At Bank of America Capital Management, Mr.
Gerber worked extensively in the development and managing of
mutual funds and institutional accounts that were designed to
track assorted equity market indices such as the Standard
& Poor’s 500 and the Standard
& Poor’s Midcap 400. Before joining Bank of
America, he was managing director and founder of the Marc
Stevens Futures Index Fund, a fund that combined the use of
commodity futures with equity stock index futures. The futures
index fund was a commodity pool and Mr. Gerber was the
Commodity Pool Operator. It was ultimately purchased by Newport
Commodities. Mr. Gerber’s two decades of experience in
institutional investment include a period of employment as a
floor trader on the New York Futures Exchange.
Mr. Gerber has passed the Series 3 examination for
associated persons. He holds an MBA in finance from the
University of San Francisco and a BA from Skidmore College.
Mr. Gerber is 43 years old.
26
Andrew F. Ngim has been a Management Director of the General
Partner since
May 10, 2005 and Treasurer of the General
Partner since
June 9, 2005. He received a Bachelor of Arts
from the University of California at Berkeley in 1983.
Mr. Ngim has been the Managing Director of Ameristock
Corporation since 1999. He was the co-portfolio manager of the
Ameristock Large Company Growth Fund from December 2000 to June
2002 and Benefits Consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers from
1994 to 1999. Mr. Ngim is 45 years old.
Howard Mah has been a Management Director of the General Partner
since
May 10, 2005 and Secretary of the General Partner
since
June 9, 2005. Mr. Mah also serves as the General
Partner’s Chief Compliance Officer. He received a Bachelor
of Education from the University of Alberta, in 1986 and an MBA
from the University of San Francisco in 1988. He has been the
Compliance Officer of Ameristock Corporation since 2001; tax
& finance consultant in private practice since 1995,
Secretary of Ameristock Mutual Fund since 1995 and Ameristock
Focused Value Fund from December 2000 to January 2005; Chief
Compliance Officer of Ameristock Mutual Fund since 2004 and the
Co-Portfolio Manager of the Ameristock Focused Value Fund from
December 2000 to January 2005. Mr. Mah is 41 years old.
Robert L. Nguyen has been a Management Director of the General
Partner since
May 10, 2005. He received a Bachelor of
Science from California State University Sacramento in 1981.
Mr. Nguyen has been the Managing Principal of Ameristock
Corporation since 2000. He was Co-Portfolio Manager of the
Ameristock Large Company Growth Fund from December 2000 to June
2002 and Institutional Specialist with Charles Schwab &
Company Inc. from 1995 to 1999. Mr. Nguyen is 45 years old.
Peter M. Robinson has been an Independent Director of the
General Partner since
September 30, 2005. Mr. Robinson
has been employed with the Hoover Institution since 1993.
Mr. Robinson graduated from Dartmouth College in 1979 and
Oxford University in 1982. Mr. Robinson spent six years in
the White House, serving from 1982 to 1983 as chief speechwriter
to Vice President George Bush and from 1983 to 1988 as special
assistant and speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan. After the
White House, Mr. Robinson received an MBA from the Stanford
University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Robinson then
spent a year in New York City with Fox Television. He spent a
second year in Washington, D.C., with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, where he served as the director of the
Office of Public Affairs, Policy Evaluation, and Research.
Mr. Robinson has also written three books and has been
published in the
New York Times, Red Herring, and
Forbes ASAP and he is the editor of
Can Congress Be
Fixed?: Five Essays on Congressional Reform (Hoover
Institution Press, 1995). Mr. Robinson is 48 years old.
Gordon L. Ellis has been an Independent Director of the General
Partner since
September 30, 2005. Mr. Ellis has been
Chairman of International Absorbents, Inc. since July 1988,
President and Chief Executive Officer since November 1996 and a
Class I Director of
the company since July 1985.
Mr. Ellis is also a director of Absorption Corp.,
International Absorbents, Inc.’s wholly-owned subsidiary.
Mr. Ellis is a director/trustee of Polymer Solutions, Inc.,
a former publicly-held company that sold all of its assets
effective as of
February 3, 2004 and is currently winding
down its operations and liquidating following such sale. Mr.
Ellis is a professional engineer with an MBA in international
finance. Mr. Ellis is 59 years old.
Malcolm R. Fobes III has been an Independent Director of the
General Partner since
September 30, 2005. Mr. Fobes
manages the investment program of the Berkshire Focus Fund. He
is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the
Berkshire Focus Fund’s portfolio. Mr. Fobes founded
the Berkshire Focus Fund’s investment adviser, Berkshire
Capital Holdings, Inc., in 1993, where he has been responsible
for directing
the company’s investment programs in both
public and private companies located in the Silicon Valley.
Prior to forming Berkshire Capital, Mr. Fobes was employed
by various technology-related companies, including Adobe
Systems, Inc., a leading provider of digital publishing and
imaging software technologies. Mr. Fobes holds a B.S.
degree in finance and economics from San Jose State University
in California. Mr. Fobes is 41 years old.
John Love will act as the Operations Manager. Mr. Love
has served as the operations manager of Ameristock Corporation
since 2002, where he is responsible for marketing the Ameristock
Mutual Fund. From April 2001 to September 2002, Mr. Love
was the project manager for TouchVision Interactive where he
provided leadership to project teams while assisting with
business and process development.
27
From January 1996 to November 2000, Mr. Love was the
managing director of Jamison/ Gold (Keane Inc.) where he
provided leadership to all departments including operations,
production, technology, sales, marketing, administration,
recruiting, and finance. From December 2000 to February 2001,
Mr. Love was employed by Digital Boardwalk Inc.
Mr. Love’s experience also includes leading a group of
multimedia producers who controlled web and kiosk projects from
pre-
contract to deployment. He holds a BFA in cinema-television
from the University of Southern California. Mr. Love does not
have any experience operating a commodity pool. Mr. Love is
34 years old.
John T. Hyland, CFA will act as a Portfolio Manager and as the
Director of Portfolio Research. Mr. Hyland has an extensive
background in portfolio management and research with both equity
and fixed income securities, as well as in the development of
new types of complex investment funds. He is currently a
principal at Towerhouse Capital Management, LLC, a firm that
provides portfolio management and new fund development expertise
to non-U.S. institutional investors. Prior to founding
Towerhouse in 2003, Mr. Hyland was the Director of Global
Property Securities Research for Roulac International, where he
worked on the development of a hedge fund focused on global real
estate stocks. From 1996 through 2001, Mr. Hyland was the
Director of Securities Research and Portfolio Manager for the
capital markets division of CB Richard Ellis, a global
commercial real estate services firm. His division provided
portfolio management of equities as an advisor or sub-advisor
for mutual funds and separate accounts focused on real estate
investment trusts. In addition, his group conducted research in
the area of structured commercial real estate debt (including
Commercial Mortgage-Back Securities, or “CMBS”), and
lead the creation of one of the earliest re-securitizations of
multiple CMBS pool tranches into a Collateralized Debt
Obligation (“CDO”) vehicle. In the ten years prior to
working at CB Richard Ellis, Mr. Hyland had worked as a
portfolio manager or financial representative for several other
investment firms and mutual funds. Mr. Hyland received his
Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”) designation in
1994. From 1993 until 2003, Mr. Hyland was on the Board of
Directors of the Security Analysts of San Francisco
(“SASF”), a not-for-profit organization of investment
management professionals. He served as the president of the SASF
from 2001-2002. Mr. Hyland is a member of the CFA Institute
(formerly AIMR). He is also a member of the National Association
of Petroleum Investment Analysts (NAPIA), a
not-for-profit
organization of investment professionals focused on the oil
industry. He serves as an arbitrator for the National
Association of Securities Dealers (“NASD”), as part of
their dispute resolution program. He is a graduate of the
University of California, Berkeley and received a BA in
political science/international relations in 1982.
Mr. Hyland is 46 years old.
Kathryn D. Rooney will act as a Marketing Manager. Her primary
responsibilities will include soliciting orders, customers and
customer funds. Currently, Ms. Rooney is the Director of
Business Development for Ameristock Mutual Fund. She has held
this position since September of 2003. Prior to working for
Ameristock Mutual Fund, Ms. Rooney was the Regional
Director for Accessor Capital Management from November of 2002
to September of 2003. Before working at Accessor Capital
Management, Ms. Rooney worked at ALPS Mutual Fund Services,
Inc. as a National Sales Director. She held this position from
May of 1999 through November of 2002. Before working at ALPS
Mutual Fund Services, Inc., Ms. Rooney worked as a Trust
Officer for Fifth Third Bank from June of 1994 through May of
1999. Ms. Rooney is 33 years old.
28
The following are individual Principals, as that term is defined
in CFTC Rule 3.1, for USOF: Melinda Gerber,
Howard Mah,
Andrew Ngim,
Robert Nguyen, Peter Robinson, Gordon Ellis,
Malcolm Fobes, John Love, and John Hyland. These individuals are
principals due to their positions, however, Nicholas Gerber and
Melinda Gerber are also principals due to their controlling
stake in Wainwright. None of the principals owns or has any
other beneficial interest in USOF. Nicholas Gerber and John
Hyland make trading and investment decisions for USOF. Nicholas
Gerber, John Love, and John Hyland execute trades on behalf of
USOF. In addition, Nicholas Gerber, John Love, John Hyland and
Kathryn Rooney are registered with the NFA as Associated Persons
of the General Partner.
Compensation and Fees to the General Partner
USOF pays a management fee to the General Partner as follows:
| |
|
|
|
|
| Assets |
|
Management Fee | |
| |
|
| |
|
First $1,000,000,000
|
|
|
0.50% of NAV |
|
|
After the first $1,000,000,000
|
|
|
0.20% of NAV |
|
Prior Performance of the General Partner and Affiliates
The General Partner is a new company so it does not have a prior
performance history. Nicholas Gerber, the president and CEO of
the General Partner, ran the Marc Stevens Futures Index Fund
over 10 years ago. This fund combined commodity futures
with equity stock index futures. It was a very small private
offering, which had under $1 million in assets. The Marc
Stevens Futures Index Fund was a commodity pool and
Mr. Gerber was the CPO. Ameristock Corporation is an
affiliate of the General Partner and it is a California-based
registered investment advisor registered under the Investment
Advisors Act of 1940 that has been sponsoring and providing
portfolio management services to mutual funds since 1995.
Ameristock Corporation is the investment adviser to the
Ameristock Mutual Fund, Inc., a mutual fund registered under the
Investment Company Act of 1940 that focuses on large cap U.S.
equities that has approximately $800 million in assets.
How Does USOF Operate?
The investment objective of USOF is for the units’
NAV to reflect the performance of the spot price of WTI
light, sweet crude oil, less USOF’s expenses. USOF will
invest in Oil Futures
Contracts, which are futures
contracts for
light, sweet crude oil, other types of crude oil, heating oil,
gasoline, natural gas, and other petroleum-based fuels that are
traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange or other U.S.
and foreign exchanges, and Other Oil Interests such as
cash-settled options on Oil Futures
Contracts and forward
contracts for oil and
over-the-counter
transaction that are based on the price of oil, other
petroleum-based fuels, Oil Futures
Contracts and indices based
on the foregoing.
The primary catalyst for determining the allocation mix of Oil
Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests to be purchased by the
General Partner are speculative position limits of the exchanges
and the ability to manage USOF’s investments in a smooth
and controlled manner. As noted above, USOF anticipates
investing in Oil Futures
Contracts that are traded on U.S. and
foreign exchanges. USOF intends to purchase futures
contracts on
foreign exchanges, such as the ICE Futures or the Singapore
Exchange, if permitted under applicable regulatory requirements,
as a result of position limits on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. It does not intend to trade on foreign exchanges to
make a profit.
USOF seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in a
mix of Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests such that
USOF’s NAV will closely track the price of a specified Oil
Futures
Contract (the
“Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract”). The General Partner believes the Benchmark Oil
Futures
Contract historically exhibited a close correlation with
the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil. On any Valuation
Day (a Valuation Day is any day as of which USOF calculates its
NAV), the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract is the Near Month
Contract for WTI light, sweet crude oil traded on the New York
Mercantile Exchange unless the Near Month
Contract will expire
within two weeks of the Valuation Day,
29
in which case the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract is the Second
to Nearest Out Month
Contract for WTI light, sweet crude oil
traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
More specifically, the General Partner will endeavor to place
USOF’s trades in Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil
Interests and otherwise manage USOF’s investments so that A
will be within plus/minus10 percent of B, where:
• A is the average daily change in USOF’s NAV for
any period of 30 successive Valuation Days, and
• B is the average daily change in the price of the
Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract over the same period.
The General Partner believes that market arbitrage opportunities
will cause USOF’s unit price on the American Stock Exchange
to closely track USOF’s NAV. The General Partner further
believes that the prices of the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract
have historically closely tracked the spot prices of WTI light,
sweet crude oil. The General Partner believes that the net
effect of these two expected relationships and the relationship
described above between USOF’s NAV and the Benchmark Oil
Futures
Contract, will be that the price of USOF’s units on
the American Stock Exchange will closely track the spot price of
a barrel of WTI light, sweet crude oil, less USOF’s
expenses.
30
These relationships are illustrated in the following diagram:
The General Partner will employ a “neutral” investment
strategy intended to track the spot price of WTI light,
sweet crude oil regardless of whether the price of oil goes up
or goes down. USOF’s “neutral” investment
strategy is designed to permit investors generally to purchase
and sell USOF’s units for the purpose of investing
indirectly in 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
oil-related
transactions.
31
USOF’s total portfolio composition will be disclosed, each
business day that the American Stock Exchange is open for
trading, on USOF’s
website at
http://www.unitedstatesoilfund.com and through the American
Stock Exchange’s
website at
http://www.amex.com. The
website disclosure of portfolio holdings will be made daily and
will include, as applicable, the name and value of each oil
interest, the specific types of Other Oil Interests and
characteristics of such Other Oil Interests, Treasuries, and
amount of cash held in USOF’s portfolio. USOF’s
website is publicly accessible at no charge.
The units may be purchased by Authorized Purchasers only in
blocks of 100,000 units called Creation Baskets. The amount of
the purchase payment for a Creation Basket will be equal to the
aggregate NAV of units in the Creation Basket. Similarly,
Authorized Purchasers may redeem units only in blocks of 100,000
units called Redemption Baskets. The amount of the
redemption proceeds for a Redemption Basket will be equal
to the aggregate NAV of units in the Redemption Basket. The
purchase price for Creation Baskets, and the redemption price
for Redemption Baskets will be the actual NAV calculated at the
end of the business day when notice for a purchase or redemption
is received by USOF. The American Stock Exchange will publish an
approximate NAV intra-day based on the prior day’s NAV and
the current price of Benchmark Oil Futures
Contracts, but the
basket price will be determined based on the actual NAV at the
end of the day.
While USOF will only issue units in large blocks called Creation
Baskets, units may also be purchased and sold in much smaller
increments on the American Stock Exchange. These transactions,
however are effected at the bid and ask prices established by
specialist firm(s). Like any listed security, units can be
purchased and sold at any time a secondary market is open.
The General Partner believes that for many investors the units
represent a cost-effective way to invest indirectly in light,
sweet crude oil. However, as noted, because USOF invests in Oil
Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests rather than directly
in oil, the performance of the price of the units may not
accurately and consistently reflect the performance of the spot
price of WTI light, sweet crude oil.
Graph A and Graph B on the following page illustrate
the correlation between the monthly average spot price of WTI
light, sweet crude oil and the monthly average price of futures
contracts for WTI light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing,
Oklahoma traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In
addition, Graph C illustrates the correlation between the
Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract and other fuel-based commodity
futures
contracts in which USOF may invest.
These correlations are relevant because the General Partner will
endeavor to invest USOF’s assets in Oil Futures
Contracts
and Other Oil Interests so that USOF’s NAV will correlate
as closely as possible with the price of the Benchmark Oil
Futures
Contract. As noted, the General Partner also believes
that the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract will
closely correlate with the spot price of WTI light, sweet crude
oil. Assuming that the units’ value tracks the Benchmark
Oil Futures
Contract as intended because of the correlations
illustrated by the following charts, the stated objective of
USOF for the units’ NAV to reflect the performance of the
spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil would be met if the
trend reflected over the past ten years were to continue.
However, there is no guaranty that such trend will continue. To
obtain the monthly average prices, USOF added the closing prices
for every day in each month and then divided that number by the
total number of days in that month.
32
GRAPH A
1995 thru 1999 Monthly Average Spot Price vs. Monthly Average
Futures Price
(WTI light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing,
Oklahoma)
GRAPH B
2000 thru 2005 Monthly Average Spot Price vs. Monthly Average
Futures Price
(WTI light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing,
Oklahoma)
33
GRAPH C
What is USOF’s Investment Strategy?
In managing USOF’s assets the General Partner does not
intend to use a technical trading system that issues buy and
sell orders. The General Partner does intend to employ a
quantitative methodology whereby each time a Creation Basket is
purchased, the General Partner will purchase oil interests, such
as an Oil Futures
Contract for WTI light, sweet crude oil traded
on the New York Mercantile Exchange, that have an aggregate face
amount that approximates the amount of Treasuries and cash
received upon the issuance of one or more Creation Baskets.
As an example, assume that a Creation Basket purchase order is
placed on
January 2, 2006. If USOF’s closing NAV for
January 2 is $66.79, USOF would receive $6,679,000 for the
Creation Basket ($66.79 NAV per unit times 100,000 units, and
ignoring the Creation Basket fee of $1,000). Assume that the
price of an Oil Futures
Contract for WTI light, sweet crude oil
on
January 3, 2006 is $66,800. Because the price of oil
reflected in these Near Month futures
contracts on
January 3, 2006 is different (in this case, higher) than
the price of oil reflected in USOF’s NAV calculated as of
January 2, 2006 (the day the corresponding Creation Basket
was sold), USOF cannot invest the entire purchase amount
corresponding to the Creation Basket in futures
contracts—i.e., it can only invest in 99 Oil Futures
Contracts with an aggregate value of $6,613,200 ($66,800 per
contract times 99
contracts). Assuming a margin equal to
10% of the value of the Oil Futures
Contracts which would
require $661,320 in Treasuries to be deposited as margin with
the futures commission merchant through which the
contract was
purchased, the remainder of the purchase price for the Creation
Basket, $6,017,680, would remain invested in cash and Treasuries
as determined by the General Partner from time to time based on
factors such as potential calls for margin or anticipated
redemptions.
The specific Oil Futures
Contracts to be purchased will depend
on various factors, including a judgment by the General Partner
as to the appropriate diversification of USOF’s investments
in futures
contracts with respect to the month of expiration,
and the prevailing price volatility of particular
contracts.
While the General Partner anticipates significant investments in
New York Mercantile Exchange Oil Futures
Contracts, as USOF
reaches certain position limits on the New York Mercantile
Exchange, or for
34
other reasons, it will invest in Oil Futures
Contracts traded on
other exchanges or invest in other Oil Interests such as
contracts in the
“over-the-counter” market.
The General Partner does not anticipate letting its Oil Futures
Contracts expire and taking delivery of the underlying oil.
Instead, the General Partner will close existing positions when
it is determined appropriate to do so and reinvest the proceeds
in new Oil Futures
Contracts. Positions may also be closed out
to meet orders for Redemption Baskets.
By remaining invested as fully as possible in Oil Futures
Contracts or Other Oil Interests, the General Partner believes
that USOF’s NAV will closely track the movement of the
prices of the futures
contracts in which USOF invests. The
General Partner believes that certain arbitrage opportunities
will result in the price of the units traded on the American
Stock Exchange closely tracking the NAV of USOF. Additionally,
as discussed above, the General Partner has conducted research
that indicates that oil futures
contracts traded on the New York
Mercantile Exchange have closely tracked the spot price of the
underlying oil. Based on these expected interrelationships, the
General Partner believes that the price of USOF’s units as
traded on the American Stock Exchange will closely track the
spot price of WTI light, sweet crude oil.
Oil Futures
Contracts are agreements between two parties. One
party agrees to buy oil from the other party at a later date at
a price and quantity agreed-upon when the
contract is made. Oil
Futures
Contracts are traded on futures exchanges, including the
New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil Futures
Contracts trade in
units of 1,000 barrels. For example, on the New York
Mercantile Exchange futures
contracts are priced by floor
brokers and other exchange members through an
“open
outcry” of offers to purchase or sell the
contracts. In
contrast, another exchange, ICE Future, uses an electronic,
screen-based system that determines the price by matching
electronically offers to purchase and sell.
Certain typical and significant characteristics of Oil Futures
Contracts are discussed below. Additional risks of investing in
Oil Futures
Contracts are included in
“What are the Risk
Factors Involved with an Investment in USOF?”
Speculative Position Limits. The CFTC and
U.S. designated
contract markets such as the New York
Mercantile Exchange have established limits or position
accountability rules (i.e., speculative position limits or
position limits) on the maximum net long or net short
speculative position that any person or group of persons under
common trading control (other than a hedge, which USOF is not)
may hold, own or control in commodity interests. The net
position is the difference between an individual or firm’s
open long
contracts and open short
contracts in any one
commodity. Speculative position limits are intended to, among
other things, prevent a corner or squeeze on a market or undue
influence on prices by any single trader or group of traders.
Most U.S. futures exchanges also limit the amount of
fluctuation in the prices of some futures
contracts or options
on futures
contracts during a single trading day. These
regulations specify what are referred to as daily price
fluctuation limits (i.e., daily limits). The daily limits
establish the maximum amount that the price of a futures
contract or an option on a futures
contract may vary either up
or down from the previous day’s settlement price. Once the
daily limit has been reached in a particular futures
contract or
option on a futures
contract, no trades may be made at a price
beyond the limit.
Impact of Speculative Position Limits. The foregoing
position limits will impact the mix of investments in Oil
Interests by USOF, and the mix will vary dependent on the level
of assets held by USOF. The following example illustrates how
the mix will vary as assets increase, assuming the spot price of
WTI light, sweet crude oil remains the same: Assuming the spot
price for WTI light, sweet crude oil and the unit price were
each $60, USOF anticipates that it would invest the first
$300 million of its daily net assets only in Oil Futures
Contracts. The majority of those
contracts would consist of the
current Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract. At this level, USOF
could purchase 5,000 of such contacts or 25% of the New
York Mercantile Exchange’s speculative position limit for
such
contracts. When daily net assets exceed $300 million,
USOF anticipates that it will invest the majority of its assets
above that amount in the current Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract
with the balance of its net assets being invested in a mix of
35
other Oil Futures
Contracts, such as the Oil Futures
Contracts
tied to Brent Crude Oil as traded on New York Mercantile
Exchange or to WTI light, sweet crude oil or Brent Crude Oil as
traded on the ICE Futures, and other Oil Interests.
Once the daily net assets of the portfolio exceed approximately
$1.2 billion, USOF anticipates that a majority of all
further investments will be made in Oil Futures
Contracts, other
than the current Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract, and in Other
Oil Interests. These other Oil Futures
Contracts would be
purchased on New York Mercantile Exchange and on other
exchanges, including
non-U.S. exchanges
such as the ICE Futures.
USOF anticipates that once the daily net assets of the portfolio
exceed approximately $2.4 billion, the ability of the
portfolio to invest in additional current Benchmark Oil Futures
Contracts may be sharply limited due to certain position limit
rules in effect on New York Mercantile Exchange. Assuming the
current Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract is at the same price
level as indicated above and half of the USOF’s assets were
then fully invested in such
contracts ($1.2 billion), the
current New York Mercantile Exchange position limits for such
contracts (20,000
contracts for WTI light, sweet crude oil
futures
contracts) would be met. Under that scenario, all
additional investments above the $2.4 billion level would
be required to be invested in other Oil Future
Contracts and
Other Oil Interests. USOF anticipates that at or above the
$2.4 billion daily net asset level, the majority of the
total portfolio holdings will be in other Oil Futures
Contracts
or Other Oil Interests.
Under current conditions, USOF anticipates it would not use
non-crude oil based Oil Futures
Contracts (e.g. futures
contracts for heating oil, gasoline, and/or natural gas) or
non-crude oil based Other Oil Interests until it reaches the
speculative position limits on WTI light, sweet crude oil
futures
contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
USOF anticipates that to the extent it invests in Oil Futures
Contracts other than WTI light, sweet crude oil
contracts (such
as futures
contracts for Brent crude oil, natural gas, heating
oil, and gasoline) and Other Oil Interests, it will invest in
various non-exchange-traded derivative
contracts to hedge the
short-term price movements of such Oil Futures
Contracts and
Other Oil Interests against the current Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract.
36
Examples of the position and price limits imposed are as follows:
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Position Accountability |
|
|
| Futures Contract |
|
Levels and Limits |
|
Maximum Daily Price Fluctuation |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
New York Mercantile Exchange WTI Light, Sweet Crude Oil
|
|
Any one month/all months: 20,000 net futures, but not to
exceed 2,000 contracts in the last three days of trading in the
spot month. |
|
$10.00 per barrel ($10,000 per contract) for all
months. If any contract is traded, bid, or offered at the limit
for five minutes, trading is halted for five minutes. When
trading resumes, the limit is expanded by $10.00 per barrel
in either direction. If another halt were triggered, the market
would continue to be expanded by $10.00 per barrel in
either direction after each successive five-minute trading halt.
There will be no maximum price fluctuation limits during any one
trading session. |
|
New York Mercantile Exchange Natural Gas
|
|
Any one month/all months: 12,000 net futures, but not to
exceed 1,000 in the last three days of trading in the spot month. |
|
$3.00 per mmBtu ($30,000 per contract) for all months.
If any contract is traded, bid, or offered at the limit for five
minutes, trading is halted for five minutes. When trading
resumes, the limit is expanded by $3.00 per mmBtu in either
direction. If another halt were triggered, the market would
continue to be expanded by $3.00 per mmBtu in either
direction after each successive five-minute trading halt. There
will be no maximum price fluctuation limits during any one
trading session. |
|
New York Mercantile Exchange Heating Oil
|
|
7,000 contracts for all months combined, but not to exceed 1,000
in the last three days of trading in the spot month. |
|
$0.25 per gallon ($10,500 per contract) for all
months. If any contract is traded, bid, or offered at the limit
for five minutes, trading is halted for five minutes. When
trading resumes, the limit is expanded by $0.25 per gallon
in either direction. If another halt were triggered, the market
would continue to be expanded by $0.25 per gallon in either
direction after each successive five-minute trading halt. There
will be no maximum price fluctuation limits during any one
trading session. |
37
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Position Accountability |
|
|
| Futures Contract |
|
Levels and Limits |
|
Maximum Daily Price Fluctuation |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
New York Mercantile Exchange Gasoline
|
|
Any one month/all months:
7,000 net futures. |
|
$0.25 per gallon ($10,500 per contract) for all
months. If any contract is traded, bid, or offered at the limit
for five minutes, trading is halted for five minutes. When
trading resumes, the limit is expanded by $0.25 per gallon
in either direction. If another halt were triggered, the market
would continue to be expanded by $0.25 per gallon in either
direction after each successive five-minute trading halt. There
will be no maximum price fluctuation limits during any one
trading session. |
|
ICE Futures e-Brent Crude Futures Electronic |
|
There are no position limits. |
|
There is no maximum daily price fluctuation limit. |
|
ICE WTI Crude Futures |
|
There are no position limits. |
|
There is no maximum daily price fluctuation. |
Price Volatility. Despite daily price limits, the price
volatility of Oil Futures
Contracts generally has been
historically greater than that for traditional securities such
as stocks and bonds. Price volatility often is greater
day-to-day as opposed to intra-day. Oil Futures
Contracts tend
to be more volatile than stocks and bonds because price
movements for barrels of oil are more currently and directly
influenced by, economic factors for which current data is
available and are traded by oil futures traders throughout the
day. These economic factors include changes in interest rates;
governmental, agricultural, trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange
control programs and policies; weather and climate conditions;
changing supply and demand relationships; changes in balances of
payments and trade; U.S. and international rates of inflation;
currency devaluations and revaluations; U.S. and international
political and economic events; and changes in philosophies and
emotions of market participants. Because USOF invests a
significant portion of its assets in Oil Futures
Contracts, the
assets of USOF, and therefore the prices of USOF units, may
be subject to greater volatility than traditional securities.
Marking-to-Market
Futures Positions. Oil Futures
Contracts are marked to
market at the end of each trading day, to ensure that the
outstanding futures obligations are limited by the maximum daily
permissible price movement. This process of
marking-to-market is
designed to prevent losses from accumulating in any futures
account. Therefore, if USOF’s futures positions have
declined in value, USOF may be required to post additional
variation margin to cover this decline. Alternatively, if USOF
futures positions have increased in value, this increase will be
credited to USOF’s account.
What is the Crude Oil Market and the Petroleum-Based Fuel
Market?
USOF may purchase Oil Futures
Contracts traded on the New York
Mercantile Exchange that are based on WTI light, sweet crude
oil. It may also purchase
contracts on other exchanges,
including the ICE Futures and the Singapore Exchange. The
contract provides for delivery of several grades of domestic and
internationally traded foreign crudes, and, among other things,
serves the diverse needs of the physical market.
Light, sweet crudes are preferred by refiners because of their
low sulfur content and relatively high yields of high-value
products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, and jet
fuel. The price of WTI light, sweet crude oil has historically
exhibited periods of significant volatility.
38
Demand for petroleum products by consumers, as well as
agricultural, manufacturing and transportation industries,
determines demand for crude oil by refiners. Since the
precursors of product demand are linked to economic activity,
crude oil demand will tend to reflect economic conditions.
However, other factors such as weather also influence product
and crude oil demand.
Crude oil supply is determined by both economic and political
factors. Oil prices (along with drilling costs, availability of
attractive prospects for drilling, taxes and technology, among
other factors) determine exploration and development spending,
which influence output capacity with a lag. In the short run,
production decisions by OPEC also affect supply and prices. Oil
export embargoes and the current conflicts in Iraq represent
other routes through which political developments move the
market. It is not possible to predict the aggregate effect of
all or any combination of these factors.
In Europe, Brent crude oil is the standard for futures
contracts
traded on the ICE Futures, an electronic marketplace for energy
trading and price discovery. Brent crude oil is the price
reference for two-thirds of the world’s traded oil.
Heating oil, also known as No. 2 fuel oil, accounts for 25%
of the yield of a barrel of crude oil, the second largest
“cut” from oil after gasoline. The heating oil futures
contract, listed and traded at the New York Mercantile Exchange,
trades in units of 42,000 gallons (1,000 barrels) and is
based on delivery in New York harbor, the principal cash market
center. The price of heating oil is volatile.
Natural gas accounts for almost a quarter of U.S. energy
consumption. The natural gas futures
contract, listed and traded
on the New York Mercantile Exchange, trades in units of
10,000 million British thermal units and is based on
delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana, the nexus of 16 intra-
and interstate natural gas pipeline systems that draw supplies
from the region’s prolific gas deposits. The pipelines
serve markets throughout the U.S. East Coast, the Gulf Coast,
the Midwest, and up to the Canadian border. The price of natural
gas is volatile
Gasoline is the largest single volume refined product sold in
the U.S. and accounts for almost half of national oil
consumption. The natural gas futures
contract, listed and traded
on the New York Mercantile Exchange, trades in units of 42,000
gallons (1,000 barrels) and is based on delivery at
petroleum products terminals in the New York harbor, the major
East Coast trading center for imports and domestic shipments
from refineries in the New York harbor area or from the Gulf
Coast refining centers. The price of gasoline is volatile.
Why Does USOF Purchase and Sell Oil Futures
Contracts?
USOF’s investment objective is for the NAV of its units to
reflect the performance of the spot price of WTI light, sweet
crude oil. USOF expects to invest primarily in Oil Futures
Contracts. USOF seeks to have its aggregate NAV approximate at
all times the outstanding value of Oil Futures
Contracts (or
Other Oil Interests) USOF holds.
Other than investing in Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil
Interests, USOF will only invest in assets to support these
investments in oil interests. At any given time, a significant
majority of USOF investments are in Treasuries that serve as
segregated assets supporting USOF’s positions in Oil
Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests. For example, the
purchase of an Oil Futures
Contract with a stated value of
$10 million would not require USOF to pay $10 million
upon entering into the
contract; rather, only a margin deposit,
generally of 5%-10% of the stated value of the Oil Futures
Contract, would be required. To secure its Oil Futures
Contract
obligations, USOF would then segregate in a margin account
Treasuries in an amount equal to the balance of the current
market value of the
contract, which at the
contract’s
inception would be $10 million minus the amount of the
deposit, or $9.5 million (assuming a 5% margin).
USOF intends to earn interest income from the Treasuries that it
will purchase and it anticipates that the earned interest income
will increase the NAV and limited partners’ capital
contribution accounts. USOF plans to reinvest the earned
interest income, hold it in cash, or use it to pay its expenses.
If USOF reinvests the earned interest income, it will make
investments that are consistent with its investment objectives.
39
What is the Flow of Units?
What are the Trading Policies of USOF?
USOF will invest only in Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil
Interests that are traded in sufficient volume to permit, in the
opinion of the General Partner, ease of taking and liquidating
positions in these financial interests.
While the
contracts can be physically settled, USOF does not
intend to take or make physical delivery as permitted under the
contracts. USOF may from time to time trade in spot, or cash,
oil.
40
While USOF expects its ratio of variation margin to total assets
to generally range from 0% to 5%, the General Partner endeavors
to have the value of USOF’s Treasuries and cash whether
held by USOF or posted as margin or collateral at all times
approximate the aggregate face value of its obligations under
USOF’s Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests.
Borrowings will not be used by USOF, unless USOF is required to
borrow money in the event of delivery, if USOF trades in cash
commodities, or for short-term needs created by unexpected
redemptions. USOF intends to maintain cash or Treasuries that
equal the value of margin posted and the actual value of the Oil
Futures
Contracts. USOF does not plan to establish credit lines.
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Over-the-Counter
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 hedgors
another set of financial vehicles to use in managing exposure to
the crude oil market. USOF may purchase oil-related listed
options on these exchanges in pursuing its investment objective.
In addition to the Oil Futures
Contracts and listed options
relating to crude oil futures
contracts, there also exists an
active non-exchange-traded market in derivatives tied to crude
oil. These derivatives transactions (also known as
over-the-counter
contracts) are usually entered into between two parties. Unlike
most of the exchange-traded oil futures
contracts or
exchange-traded options on such futures, each party to such
contract bears the credit risk that the other party may not be
able to perform its obligations under its
contract.
Some oil-based derivatives transactions contain fairly generic
terms and conditions and are available from a wide range of
participants. Other oil-based derivatives have highly customized
terms and conditions and are not as widely available. Many of
these
over-the-counter
contracts are cash-settled forwards for the future delivery of
oil- or petroleum-based fuels that have terms similar to the Oil
Futures
Contracts. Others take the form of
“swaps” in
which the two parties exchange cash flows based on
pre-determined formulas tied to the price of the crude oil spot,
or forward crude oil prices, or crude oil futures prices. For
example, USOF may enter into
over-the-counter
derivative
contracts whose value will be tied to changes in the
difference between the WTI spot price, the price of Oil Futures
Contract traded on New York Mercantile Exchange and the prices
of other Oil Futures
Contracts that may be invested in by USOF.
To protect itself from the credit risk that arises in connection
with such
contracts, USOF will enter into agreements with each
counterparty that provide for the netting of its overall
exposure to its counterparty, such as the agreements published
by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.
USOF will also require that the counterparty be highly rated
and/or provide collateral or other credit support to address
USOF’s exposure to the counterparty.
USOF anticipates that the use of Other Oil Interests together
with its investments in Oil Futures
Contracts will produce price
and total return results that closely track the investment goals
of USOF.
USOF 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
Contract. USOF
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. The effect of holding such
combined positions is to adjust the sensitivity of USOF to
changes in the price relationship between futures
contracts
which will expire sooner and those that will expire later. USOF
would use such a spread if the General Partner felt that taking
such long and short positions, when combined with the rest of
it’s holdings, would more closely track the investment
goals of USOF, or the General Partner felt if it would lead to
an overall lower cost of trading to achieve a given level of
economic exposure to movements in oil prices. USOF would enter
into a straddle when it chooses to take an option position
consisting of a long (or short) position in both a call
41
option and put option. The economic effect of holding certain
combinations of put options and call options can be very similar
to that of owning the underlying futures
contracts. USOF would
make use of such a straddle approach if, in the opinion of the
General Partner, the resulting combination would more closely
track the investment goals of USOF or if it would lead to an
overall lower cost of trading to achieve a given level of
economic exposure to movements in oil prices.
USOF 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.
Who are the Service Providers?
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. is expected to act as the
registrar and transfer agent for the units. Brown Brothers
Harriman & Co. will also act as the custodian for USOF.
In this capacity, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. will
hold USOF’s cash and Treasuries pursuant to a custodial
agreement. In addition, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
will perform certain administrative and accounting services for
USOF and will prepare certain SEC and CFTC reports on behalf of
USOF. The General Partner will pay Brown Brothers
Harriman & Co.’s fees.
USOF also employs ALPS Distributors, Inc. as a Marketing Agent,
which is further discussed under “What is USOF’s Plan
of Distribution?” The General Partner will pay ALPS
Distributors, Inc.’s fees.
ABN Amro is USOF’s futures commission merchant. USOF and
ABN Amro intend to enter into an Institutional Futures Client
Account Agreement. This Agreement requires ABN Amro to provide
services to USOF in connection with the purchase and sale of oil
interests that may be purchased or sold by or through
ABN Amro for USOF’s account. USOF will pay ABN
Amro’s fees.
Currently, the General Partner does not employ commodities
trading advisors. If, in the future, the General Partner does
employ commodities trading advisors, it will choose each advisor
based on arms-length negotiations and will consider the
advisor’s experience, fees, and reputation.
Fees and Compensation Arrangements with the General Partner
and Non-Affiliated Service Providers*
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| Service Provider |
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Compensation Paid by the General Partner |
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Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., Custodian and
Administrator
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Minimum $300,000 annually and, once USOF’s assets are above
$500 million, an asset charge not in either agreement
ranging between 0.035% and 0.06%, plus a $(50,000) Transfer
Agency Fee, and in either case transaction charges of $7.00 to
$15.00 per transaction. |
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ALPS Distributors, Inc., Marketing Agent
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$425,000 per annum plus an incentive fee as follows: 0.0% on
USOF’s assets from $0-500 million; .04% on USOF’s
assets from $500 million-$4 billion; .03% on
USOF’s assets in excess of $4 billion. |
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| * |
The General Partner pays this compensation. |
42
Fees and Compensation Arrangements with USOF and
Non-Affiliated Service Providers*
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| Service Provider |
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Compensation Paid by USOF |
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ABN Amro, Futures Commissions Merchant
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Approximately $9.00 per buy or sell |
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Non-Affiliated Brokers
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Approximately .35% of assets |
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| * |
USOF pays this compensation. |
Form of Units
Registered Form. Units 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 units in certified form. The Administrator will
keep a record of all holders of the units in the registry (the
“Register”). The General Partner will recognize
transfers of units in certification form only if done in
accordance with the LP Agreement. The beneficial interests in
such units will be held in book-entry form through participants
and/or accountholders in DTC.
Book Entry. Individual certificates will not be
issued for the units. Instead, units will be represented by one
or more global certificates, which will be 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 units outstanding at any time. Unitholders
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 units through DTC
Participants or Indirect Participants, in each case who satisfy
the requirements for transfers of units. DTC participants acting
on behalf of investors holding units through such
participants’ accounts in DTC will follow the delivery
practice applicable to securities eligible for DTC’s
Same-Day Funds Settlement System. Units will be credited to DTC
participants’ securities accounts following confirmation of
receipt of payment.
DTC. 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” register
pursuant to the provisions of Section 17A of the Exchange
Act. DTC holds securities for DTC Participants and facilitates
the clearance and settlement of transaction between DTC
Participants through electronic book-entry changes in accounts
of DTC Participants.
Transfers of Units Only Through DTC. The units are
only transferable through the book-entry system of DTC. Limited
partners who are not DTC Participants may transfer their units
through DTC by instructing the DTC Participant holding their
units (or by instructing the Indirect Participant or other
entity through which their units are held) to transfer the
units. Transfers are made in accordance with standard securities
industry practice.
Transfers of interests in units with DTC will be 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 definitive security in respect of such interest.
DTC has advised us that it will take any action permitted to be
taken by a unitholder (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
43
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 USOF’s units, and potentially any purchasers of limited
partner interests 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 USOF’s LP Agreement and is eligible to purchase
USOF’s securities. Each purchaser of units 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 units or, if a
purchase of units is made through an exchange, the form may be
obtained directly through USOF. Further, the General Partner may
request each record holder to furnish certain information,
including that holder’s nationality, citizenship or other
related status. A record holder is a unitholder 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
the USOF’s limited partners if that investor’s
ownership would subject USOF to the risk of cancellation or
forfeiture of any of USOF’s assets under any federal, state
or local law or regulation. If the record holder fails to
furnish the information or if the General Partner 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 USOF’s limited partners, the General Partner may be
substituted as a holder for the record holder, who will then be
treated as a non-citizen assignee, and USOF 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.
USOF may, at its discretion, treat the nominee holder of a unit
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 USOF’s existing units, 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 the General Partner obtained, our units will be
securities and will be transferable according to the laws
governing transfers of securities.
Any transfer of units will not be recorded by the transfer agent
or recognized by the General Partner unless a completed transfer
application is delivered to the General Partner or the
Administrator. When acquiring units, the transferee of such
units that complete a transfer application will:
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be an assignee until admitted as a substituted limited partner
upon the consent and sole discretion of the General Partner and
the recording of the assignment on the books and records of the
partnership; |
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• |
automatically request admission as a substituted limited partner; |
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agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of, and executes,
our LP Agreement; |
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• |
represent that such transferee has the capacity and authority to
enter into our LP Agreement; |
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• |
grant powers of attorney to our General Partner and any
liquidator of us; and |
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• |
make the consents and waivers contained in our LP Agreement. |
An assignee will become a limited partner in respect of the
transferred units upon the consent of our General Partner and
the recordation of the name of the assignee on our books and
records. Such consent may be withheld in the sole discretion of
our General Partner.
If consent of the General Partner 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 units that are held by assignees,
the General Partner shall be deemed to be the limited partner
with respect thereto and shall, in exercising the voting rights
in respect of such units on
44
any matter, vote such units at the written direction of the
assignee who is the recordholder of such units. If no such
written direction is received, such units will not be voted. An
assignee shall have no other rights of a limited partner.
Until a unit has been transferred on our books, we and the
transfer agent may treat the record holder of the unit as the
absolute owner for all purposes, except as otherwise required by
law or stock exchange regulations.
Withdrawal of Limited
Partners
As discussed in the LP Agreement, if the General Partner gives
at least fifteen (15) days’ written notice to a
limited partner, then the General Partner may for any reason, in
its sole discretion, require any such limited partner to
withdraw entirely from the partnership or to withdraw a portion
of his partner capital account. If the General Partner does not
give at least fifteen (15) days’ written notice to a
limited partner, then it may only require withdrawal of all or
any portion of the capital account of any limited partner in the
following circumstances: (i) the unitholder made a
misrepresentation to the General Partner in connection with its
purchase of units; or (ii) the limited partner’s
ownership of units would result in the violation of any law or
regulations applicable to the partnership or a partner. In these
circumstances, the General Partner without notice may require
the withdrawal at any time, or retroactively. The limited
partner thus designated shall withdraw from the partnership or
withdraw that portion of his partner capital account specified,
as the case may be, as of the close of business on such date as
determined by the General Partner. The limited partner thus
designated shall be deemed to have withdrawn from the
partnership or to have made a partial withdrawal from his
partner capital account, as the case may be, without further
action on the part of the limited partner and the provisions of
the LP Agreement shall apply.
What is the Plan of Distribution?
Most investors will buy and sell units of USOF in secondary
market transactions through brokers. Units will trade on the
American Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol listed in this
Prospectus. Units will be bought and sold throughout the trading
day like other publicly traded securities. The Authorized
Purchaser’s function will be to maintain an orderly market
in the units, including establishing the bid and ask prices on
the Exchange. When buying or selling units through a broker,
most investors will incur customary brokerage commissions and
charges. Investors are encouraged to review the terms of their
brokerage account for details on applicable charges.
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Marketing Agent and Authorized Purchasers |
The offering of USOF’s units is a best efforts offering.
USOF will continuously offer Creation Baskets consisting of
100,000 units through the Marketing Agent, to Authorized
Purchasers. KV Execution Services, LLC is expected to be the
initial Authorized Purchaser. The initial Authorized Purchaser
will, subject to conditions, purchase the initial Creation
Basket of 100,000 units at an initial offering price per unit
equal to the closing price of the Benchmark Oil Futures
Contract
on the last business day prior to the effective date. Authorized
Purchasers will pay a $1,000 fee for the creation of Creation
Baskets.
The initial Authorized Purchaser proposes to offer to the public
these 100,000 units at per-unit offering prices that are
expected to reflect, among other factors, on the trading price
of the units on the American Stock Exchange, the NAV of USOF at
the time the Authorized Purchaser purchased the Creation Baskets
and the NAV of the units at the time of the offer of the units
to the public, the supply of and demand for units at the time of
sale, and the liquidity of the Oil Futures
Contract market and
the market for Other Oil Interests, and are expected to fall
between USOF’s NAV and the trading price of the units on
the American Stock Exchange at the time of sale. Units offered
by the initial Authorized Purchaser at different times may have
different offering prices. The initial Authorized Purchaser will
not receive from USOF, the General Partner or any of their
affiliates any fee or other compensation in
45
connection with the sale of the units. USOF will not bear any
expenses in connection with the offering or sales of the initial
Creation Basket of units.
The offering of baskets is being made in compliance with Conduct
Rule 2810 of the NASD. Accordingly, the initial Authorized
Purchaser will not make any sales to any account over which it
has discretionary authority without the prior written approval
of a purchaser of units.
The per unit price of units offered in Creation Baskets on any
subsequent day will be the total NAV of USOF calculated on that
day divided by the number of issued and outstanding units. An
Authorized Purchaser is not required to sell any specific number
or dollar amount of units, but will use its best efforts to sell
the units sold.
By executing an Authorized Purchaser Agreement, the Authorized
Purchaser becomes part of the group of parties eligible to
purchase baskets from, and put baskets for redemption to, USOF.
An Authorized Purchaser is under no obligation to create or
redeem baskets, and an Authorized Purchaser is under no
obligation to offer to the public units of any baskets it does
create.
As of the date of this prospectus, KV Execution Services, LLC is
the only Authorized Purchaser. Because new units can be created
and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of
USOF, a “distribution”, as such term is used in the
1933 Act, will be occurring. Authorized Purchasers, 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. Authorized Purchasers will
comply with the prospectus delivery requirements in connection
with the sale of units to customers. For example, an Authorized
Purchaser, other broker-dealer firm or its client will be deemed
a statutory underwriter if it purchases a basket from USOF,
breaks the basket down into the constituent units and sells the
units to its customers; or if it chooses to couple the creation
of a supply of new units with an active selling effort involving
solicitation of secondary market demand for the units. 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 Purchasers nor
“underwriters” but are nonetheless participating in a
distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary trading
transactions), and thus dealing with units that are part of an
“unsold allotment” within the meaning of Section
4(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of
the prospectus-delivery exemption provided by Section 4(3) of
the 1933 Act.
The General Partner may qualify the units in states selected by
the General Partner and intends that sales be made through
broker-dealers who are members of the NASD. Investors intending
to create or redeem baskets through Authorized Purchasers 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 Purchasers may be indemnified by the
General Partner, they will not be entitled to receive a discount
or commission from USOF for their purchases of Creation Baskets.
The difference between the price paid by Authorized Purchasers
as underwriters and the price paid to such Authorized Purchasers
by investors will be deemed underwriting compensation.
USOF’s NAV is calculated by:
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Taking the current market value of its total assets |
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Subtracting any liabilities |
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46
The Administrator will calculate the NAV of USOF once each
trading day. The NAV for a particular trading day will be
released after 4:15 p.m. New York time. It will calculate
NAV as of the earlier of the close of the New York Stock
Exchange or 4:00 p.m. New York time. Trading on the
American Stock Exchange typically closes at 4:15 p.m. New
York time. USOF will use the New York Mercantile Exchange
closing price (determined at the earlier of the close of that
exchange or 2:30 p.m. New York time) for the
contracts held
on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but will calculate or
determine the value of all other USOF investments as of the
earlier of the earlier of close of the New York Stock Exchange
or 4:00 p.m. New York time.
In addition, in order to provide updated information relating to
USOF for use by investors and market professionals, the American
Stock Exchange will calculate and disseminate throughout the
trading day an updated indicative fund value. The
indicative fund value will be calculated by using the prior
day’s closing NAV per unit of USOF as a base and updating
that value throughout the trading day to reflect changes in the
most recently reported trade price for the active WTI light,
sweet Oil Futures
Contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The prices reported for the active Oil Futures
Contract month
will be adjusted based on the prior day’s spread
differential between settlement values for that
contract and the
spot month
contract. In the event that the spot month
contract
is also the active
contract, the last sale price for the active
contract will not be adjusted. The indicative fund value
unit basis disseminated during American Stock Exchange trading
hours should not be viewed as an actual real time update of the
NAV, because NAV is calculated only once at the end of each
trading day.
The indicative fund value will be disseminated on a per
unit basis every 15 seconds during regular American Stock
Exchange trading hours of 9:30 a.m. New York Time to 4:15 p.m.
New York time. The normal trading hours of the New York
Mercantile Exchange are 10:00 a.m. New York time to 2:30 p.m.
New York Time. This means that there will be a gap in time at
the beginning and the end of each day during which USOF’s
units will be traded on the American Stock Exchange, but
real-time New York Mercantile Exchange trading prices for oil
futures
contracts traded on such Exchange will not be available.
As a result, during those gaps there will be no update to the
indicative fund value.
The American Stock Exchange will disseminate the indicative
fund value through the facilities of CTA/ CQ High Speed
Lines. In addition, the indicative fund value will be
published on the American Stock Exchange’s
website and will
be 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 USOF units on the American Stock
Exchange. Investors and market professionals will be able
thorough out the trading day to compare the market price of USOF
and the indicative fund value. If the market price of USOF
units diverges significantly from the indicative
fund value, market professionals will have an incentive to
execute arbitrage trades. For example, if USOF appears to be
trading at a discount compared to the indicative
fund value, a market professional could buy USOF units on
the American Stock Exchange and sell short oil future
contracts.
Such arbitrage trades can tighten the tracking between the
market price of USOF and the indicative fund value and thus
can be beneficial to all market participants.
In addition, other Oil Futures
Contracts, Other Oil Interests
and Treasuries held by USOF 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 value.
The indicative fund value is based on the prior day’s NAV
and moves up and down according to changes in Near Month Oil
Futures
Contracts for WTI light, sweet oil traded on the New
York Mercantile Exchange.
Creation and Redemption of
Units
USOF will create and redeem units from time to time, but only in
one or more Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets. The
creation and redemption of baskets will only be made in exchange
for delivery to USOF or the distribution by USOF of the amount
of Treasuries and any cash represented by the
47
baskets being created or redeemed, the amount of which will be
based on the combined NAV of the number of units 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 Purchasers will be the only persons that may place
orders to create and redeem baskets. Authorized Purchasers 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
Purchaser, a person must enter into an Authorized Purchaser
Agreement with the General Partner. The Authorized Purchaser
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 Purchaser Agreement and the related procedures
attached thereto may be amended by USOF, without the consent of
any limited partner or unitholder or Authorized Purchaser.
Authorized Purchasers will pay a transaction fee of $1,000 to
USOF for each order they place to create or redeem one or more
baskets. Authorized Purchasers who make deposits with USOF in
exchange for baskets will receive no fees, commissions or other
form of compensation or inducement of any kind from either USOF
or the General Partner, and no such person will have any
obligation or responsibility to the General Partner or USOF to
effect any sale or resale of units.
Certain Authorized Purchasers are expected to have the facility
to participate directly in the physical oil market and the oil
futures market. In some cases, an Authorized Purchaser or its
affiliates may from time to time acquire oil from or sell oil
and may profit in these instances. The General Partner believes
that the size and operation of the oil market make it unlikely
that an Authorized Purchaser’s direct activities in the oil
or securities markets will impact the price of oil, Oil Futures
Contracts, or the price of the units.
Each Authorized Purchaser will be registered as a broker-dealer
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
(“Exchange Act”) and is a member in good standing with
the NASD, or will be exempt from being or otherwise will not be
required to be licensed as a broker-dealer or a member of NASD,
and will be qualified to act as a broker or dealer in the states
or other jurisdictions where the nature of its business so
requires. Certain Authorized Purchasers may be regulated under
federal and state banking laws and regulations. Each Authorized
Purchaser will have 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 Purchaser Agreement, the General Partner
has agreed to indemnify the Authorized Purchasers against
certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities
Act, and to contribute to the payments the Authorized Purchasers
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 Purchaser Agreement for more detail, each of
which is attached as an exhibit to the registration statement of
which this prospectus is a part. See “Where You Can Find
More Information” for information about where you can
obtain the registration statement.
On any business day, an Authorized Purchaser 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 American Stock Exchange, the New York Mercantile Exchange
or the New York Stock Exchange 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 American Stock Exchange,
whichever is earlier. The day on which the Marketing Agent
receives a valid purchase order is the purchase order date.
48
By placing a purchase order, an Authorized Purchaser agrees to
deposit Treasuries with USOF, or a combination of Treasuries and
cash, as described below. Prior to the delivery of baskets for a
purchase order, the Authorized Purchaser must also have wired to
the Custodian the non-refundable transaction fee due for the
purchase order. Authorized Purchasers may not withdraw a
creation request.
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Determination of required deposits |
The total deposit required to create each basket (“Creation
Basket Deposit”) will be an amount of Treasuries and cash
that is in the same proportion to the total assets of USOF (net
of estimated accrued but unpaid fees, expenses and other
liabilities) on the date the order to purchase is properly
received as the number of units to be created under the purchase
order is in proportion to the total number of units outstanding
on the date the order is received. The General Partner
determines, directly in his 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 will be 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 properly
and the total required deposit.
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Delivery of required deposits |
An Authorized Purchaser who places a purchase order is
responsible for transferring to USOF’s account with the
Custodian the required amount of Treasuries and cash by the end
of the third business day following the purchase order date.
Upon receipt of the deposit amount, the Administrator will
direct DTC to credit the number of baskets ordered to the
Authorized Purchaser’s DTC account on the third 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 USOF shall be borne
solely by the Authorized Purchaser.
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 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the
date the purchase order is received, Authorized Purchasers 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. USOF’s 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.
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Rejection of purchase orders |
The General Partner acting by itself or through the Marketing
Agent may reject a purchase order or a Creation Basket Deposit
if:
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it determines that the investment alternative available to USOF
at that time will not enable it to meet its investment objective; |
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it determines that the purchase order or the Creation Basket
Deposit is not in proper form; |
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it believes that the purchase order or the Creation Basket
Deposit would have adverse tax consequences to USOF or its
unitholders; |
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the acceptance or receipt of the Creation Basket Deposit would,
in the opinion of counsel to the General Partner, be unlawful; or |
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circumstances outside the control of the General Partner,
Marketing Agent or Custodian make it, for all practical
purposes, not feasible to process creations of baskets. |
None of the General Partner, Marketing Agent or Custodian will
be liable for the rejection of any purchase order or Creation
Basket Deposit.
49
The procedures by which an Authorized Purchaser can redeem one
or more baskets mirror the procedures for the creation of
baskets. On any business day, an Authorized Purchaser 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 American Stock
Exchange, whichever is earlier. A redemption order so received
will be effective on the date it is received in satisfactory
form by the Marketing Agent. The redemption procedures allow
Authorized Purchasers to redeem baskets and do not entitle an
individual unitholder to redeem any units in an amount less than
a basket, or to redeem baskets other than through an Authorized
Purchaser. By placing a redemption order, an Authorized
Purchaser agrees to deliver the baskets to be redeemed through
DTC’s book-entry system to USOF not later than 11 a.m. on
the third business day following the effective date of the
redemption order. Prior to the delivery of the redemption
distribution for a redemption order, the Authorized Purchaser
must also have wired to USOF’s account at the Custodian the
non-refundable transaction fee due for the redemption order.
Authorized Purchasers may not withdraw a redemption request.
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Determination of Redemption Distribution |
The redemption distribution from USOF will consist of a transfer
to the redeeming Authorized Purchaser of an amount of Treasuries
and cash that is in the same proportion to the total assets of
USOF (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 units to be redeemed under the
redemption order is in proportion to the total number of units
outstanding on the date the order is received. The General
Partner, 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 distribution to redeem baskets. The Marketing Agent
will publish such requirements as of 4:00 p.m. New York time on
the redemption order date.
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Delivery of Redemption Distribution |
The redemption distribution due from USOF will be delivered to
the Authorized Purchaser on the third business day following the
redemption order date if, by 9:00 a.m. New York time on such
third business day, USOF’s DTC account has been credited
with the baskets to be redeemed. If USOF’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 USOF
receives the fee applicable to the extension of the redemption
distribution date which the General Partner may, from time to
time, determine and the remaining baskets to be redeemed are
credited to USOF’s DTC account by 9:00 a.m. New York
time on such next business day. Any further outstanding amount
of the redemption order shall be cancelled. Pursuant to
information from the General Partner, the Custodian will also be
authorized to deliver the redemption distribution
notwithstanding that the baskets to be redeemed are not credited
to USOF’s DTC account by 9:00 a.m. New York time on
the third business day following the redemption order date if
the Authorized Purchaser has collateralized its obligation to
deliver the baskets through DTC’s book entry-system on such
terms as the General Partner may from time to time determine.
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Suspension or Rejection of Redemption orders |
The General Partner may, in its discretion, suspend the right of
redemption, or postpone the redemption settlement date,
(1) for any period during which the American Stock Exchange
or the New York Mercantile Exchange is closed other than
customary weekend or holiday closings, or trading on the
American Stock Exchange or the New York Mercantile Exchange 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 the General Partner determines
to be necessary for the protection of the limited partners. None
of the General Partner, the Marketing Agent,
50
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.
The General Partner will reject a redemption order if the order
is not in proper form as described in the Authorized Purchaser
Agreement or if the fulfillment of the order, in the opinion of
its counsel, might be unlawful.
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Creation and Redemption Transaction Fee |
To compensate USOF for its expenses in connection with the
creation and redemption of baskets, an Authorized Purchaser is
required to pay a transaction fee to USOF of $1,000 per order to
create or redeem baskets. An order may include multiple baskets.
The transaction fee may be reduced, increased or otherwise
changed by the General Partner. The General Partner 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
30 days after the date of the notice.
Authorized Purchasers 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 Purchaser, and
agree to indemnify the General Partner and USOF if they are
required by law to pay any such tax, together with any
applicable penalties, additions to tax or interest thereon.
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Secondary Market Transactions |
As noted, USOF will create and redeem units from time to time,
but only in one or more Creation Baskets or
Redemption Baskets. The creation and redemption of baskets
will only be made in exchange for delivery to USOF or the
distribution by USOF 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
units 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 Purchasers are the only persons
that may place orders to create and redeem baskets. Authorized
Purchasers 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 Purchaser is
under no obligation to create or redeem baskets, and an
Authorized Purchaser is under no obligation to offer to the
public units of any baskets it does create. Authorized
Purchasers that do offer to the public units from the baskets
they create will do so at per-unit offering prices that are
expected to reflect, among other factors, the trading price of
the units on the American Stock Exchange, the NAV of USOF at the
time the Authorized Purchaser purchased the Creation Baskets and
the NAV of the units at the time of the offer of the units to
the public, the supply of and demand for units at the time of
sale, and the liquidity of the Oil Futures
Contract market and
the market for Other Oil Interests, and are expected to fall
between USOF’s NAV and the trading price of the units on
the American Stock Exchange at the time of sale. Units initially
comprising the same basket but offered by Authorized Purchasers
to the public at different times may have different offering
prices. An order for one or more baskets may be placed by an
Authorized Purchaser on behalf of multiple clients. Authorized
Purchasers who make deposits with USOF in exchange for baskets
receive no fees, commissions or other form of compensation or
inducement of any kind from either USOF or the General Partner,
and no such person has any obligation or responsibility to the
General Partner or USOF to effect any sale or resale of units.
Units are expected to trade in the secondary market on the
American Stock Exchange. Units may trade in the secondary market
at prices that are lower or higher relative to their NAV per
unit. The amount of the discount or premium in the trading price
relative to the NAV per unit may be influenced by various
factors, including the number of investors who seek to purchase
or sell units in the secondary market and the liquidity of the
Oil Futures
51
Contracts market and the market for Other Oil Interests. While
the units trade on the American Stock Exchange until
4:15 p.m. New York time, liquidity in the market for Oil
Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests may be reduced after
the close of the New York Mercantile Exchange at 2:30 p.m.
New York time. As a result, during this time, trading spreads,
and the resulting premium or discount, on the units may widen.
Use of Proceeds
The General Partner will initially apply all of USOF’s
assets toward trading in Oil Futures
Contracts and other Oil
Interests and cash reserves. The General Partner has sole
authority to determine the percentage of assets that will be:
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held on deposit with the futures commission merchant or other
custodian |
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used for other investments, and |
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held in bank accounts to pay current obligations and as reserves. |
The General Partner expects to deposit substantially all of
USOF’s net assets with the futures commission merchant or
other custodian for trading. When USOF purchases an Oil Futures
Contract and certain exchange traded Other Oil Interests, USOF
is required to deposit with the selling futures commission
merchant 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
“variation margin.” USOF will invest the
remainder of its assets equal to the difference between the
margin deposited and the face value of the futures
contract in
Treasuries.
The General Partner expects that all entities that will hold or
trade USOF’s assets will be based in the United States and
will be subject to United States regulations.
The General Partner believes that 5% to 10% of USOF’s
assets will normally be committed as margin for commodity
futures
contracts. However, from time to time, the percentage of
assets committed as margin may be substantially more, or less,
than such range. The General Partner intends to invest the
balance of USOF’s assets not invested in oil interests or
held in margin as reserves to be available for changes in
margin. All interest income will be used for USOF’s benefit.
The futures commission merchant, government agency or commodity
exchange could increase margins applicable to USOF to hold
trading positions at any time. Moreover, margin is merely a
security deposit and has no bearing on the profit or loss
potential for any positions taken.
The Commodity Interest Markets
The Commodity Exchange Act or CEA governs the regulation of
commodity interest transactions, markets and intermediaries. In
December 2000, the CEA was amended by the Commodity Futures
Modernization Act of 2000, or CFMA, which substantially revised
the regulatory framework governing certain commodity interest
transactions and the markets on which they trade. The CEA, as
amended by the CFMA, now provides for varying degrees of
regulation of commodity interest transactions depending upon the
variables of the transaction. In general, these variables
include (1) the type of instrument being traded (e.g.,
contracts for future delivery, options, swaps or spot
contracts), (2) the type of commodity underlying the
instrument (distinctions are made between instruments based on
agricultural commodities, energy and metals commodities and
financial commodities), (3) the nature of the parties to
the transaction (retail, eligible
contract participant, or
eligible commercial entity), (4) whether the transaction is
entered into on a
principal-to-principal
or intermediated basis, (5) the type of market on which the
transaction occurs, and (6) whether the transaction is
subject to clearing through a clearing organization. Information
regarding commodity interest transactions, markets and
intermediaries, and their associated regulatory environment, is
provided below.
52
A futures
contract such as an Oil Futures
Contract is a
standardized
contract traded on, or subject to the rules of, an
exchange that calls for the future delivery of a specified
quantity and type of a commodity at a specified time and place.
Futures
contracts are traded on a wide variety of commodities,
including agricultural products, bond, stock index, interest
rate, currency, energy and metal markets. The size and terms of
futures
contracts on a particular commodity are identical and
are not subject to any negotiation, other than with respect to
price and the number of
contracts traded between the buyer and
seller.
The contractual obligations of a buyer or seller may generally
be satisfied by taking or making physical delivery of the
underlying of commodity or by making an offsetting sale or
purchase of an identical futures
contract on the same or linked
exchange before the designated date of delivery. The difference
between the price at which the futures
contract is purchased or
sold and the price paid for the offsetting sale or purchase,
after allowance for brokerage commissions, constitutes the
profit or loss to the trader. Some futures
contracts, such as
stock index
contracts, settle in cash (reflecting the difference
between the
contract purchase/sale price and the
contract
settlement price) rather than by delivery of the underlying
commodity.
In market terminology, a trader who purchases a futures
contract
is long in the market and a trader who sells a futures
contract
is short in the market. Before a trader closes out his long or
short position by an offsetting sale or purchase, his
outstanding
contracts are known as open trades or open
positions. The aggregate amount of open positions held by
traders in a particular
contract is referred to as the open
interest in such
contract.
A forward
contract is a contractual obligation to purchase or
sell a specified quantity of a commodity at or before a
specified date in the future at a specified price and,
therefore, is economically similar to a futures
contract. Unlike
futures
contracts, however, forward
contracts are typically
traded in the
over-the-counter
markets and are not standardized
contracts. Forward
contracts
for a given commodity are generally available for various
amounts and maturities and are subject to individual negotiation
between the parties involved. Moreover, generally there is no
direct means of offsetting or closing out a forward
contract by
taking an offsetting position as one would a futures
contract on
a U.S. exchange. If a trader desires to close out a forward
contract position, he generally will establish an opposite
position in the
contract but will settle and recognize the
profit or loss on both positions simultaneously on the delivery
date. Thus, unlike in the futures
contract market where a trader
who has offset positions will recognize profit or loss
immediately, in the forward market a trader with a position that
has been offset at a profit will generally not receive such
profit until the delivery date, and likewise a trader with a
position that has been offset at a loss will generally not have
to pay money until the delivery date. In recent years, however,
the terms of forward
contracts have become more standardized,
and in some instances such
contracts now provide a right of
offset or cash settlement as an alternative to making or taking
delivery of the underlying commodity.
The forward markets provide what has typically been a highly
liquid market for foreign exchange trading, and in certain cases
the prices quoted for foreign exchange forward
contracts may be
more favorable than the prices for foreign exchange futures
contracts traded on U.S. exchanges. The forward markets are
largely unregulated. Forward
contracts are, in general, not
cleared or guaranteed by a third party. Commercial banks
participating in trading foreign exchange forward
contracts
often do not require margin deposits, but rely upon internal
credit limitations and their judgments regarding the
creditworthiness of their counterparties. In recent years,
however, many
over-the-counter market
participants in foreign exchange trading have begun to require
that their counterparties post margin.
Further, as the result of the CFMA,
over-the-counter
derivative instruments such as forward
contracts and swap
agreements (and options on forwards and physical commodities)
may begin to be traded on lightly-regulated exchanges or
electronic trading platforms that may, but are not required to,
provide for clearing facilities. Exchanges and electronic
trading platforms on which
over-the-counter
instruments may
53
be traded and the regulation and criteria for that trading are
more fully described below under
“Futures Exchanges and
Clearing Organizations.” Nonetheless, absent a clearing
facility, USOF’s trading in foreign exchange and other
forward
contracts is exposed to the creditworthiness of the
counterparties on the other side of the trade.
Options on futures
contracts are standardized
contracts traded
on an exchange. An option on futures
contract gives the buyer of
the option the right, but not the obligation, to take a position
at a specified price (the striking, strike, or exercise price)
in the underlying futures
contract or underlying interest. The
buyer of a call option acquires the right, but not the
obligation, to purchase or take a long position in the
underlying interest, and the buyer of a put option acquires the
right, but not the obligation, to sell or take a short position
in the underlying interest.
The seller, or writer, of an option is obligated to take a
position in the underlying interest at a specified price
opposite to the option buyer if the option is exercised. Thus,
the seller of a call option must stand ready to take a short
position in the underlying interest at the strike price if the
buyer should exercise the option. The seller of a put option, on
the other hand, must stand ready to take a long position in the
underlying interest at the strike price.
A call option is said to be
in-the-money if the
strike price is below current market levels and
out-of-the-money if the
strike price is above current market levels. Conversely, a put
option is said to be
in-the-money if the
strike price is above the current market levels and
out-of-the-money if the
strike price is below current market levels.
Options have limited life spans, usually tied to the delivery or
settlement date of the underlying interest. Some options,
however, expire significantly in advance of such date. The
purchase price of an option is referred to as its premium, which
consists of its intrinsic value (which is related to the
underlying market value) plus its time value. As an option nears
its expiration date, the time value shrinks and the market and
intrinsic values move into parity. An option that is
out-of-the-money and
not offset by the time it expires becomes worthless. On certain
exchanges, in-the-money
options are automatically exercised on their expiration date,
but on others unexercised options simply become worthless after
their expiration date.
Regardless of how much the market swings, the most an option
buyer can lose is the option premium. The option buyer deposits
his premium with his broker, and the money goes to the option
seller. Option sellers, on the other hand, face risks similar to
participants in the futures markets. For example, since the
seller of a call option is assigned a short futures position if
the option is exercised, his risk is the same as someone who
initially sold a futures
contract. Because no one can predict
exactly how the market will move, the option seller posts margin
to demonstrate his ability to meet any potential contractual
obligations.
Options on forward
contracts or commodities operate in a manner
similar to options on futures
contracts. An option on a forward
contract or commodity gives the buyer of the option the right,
but not the obligation, to take a position at a specified price
in the underlying forward
contract or commodity. However,
similar to forward
contracts, options on forward
contracts or on
commodities are individually negotiated
contracts between
counterparties and are typically traded in the
over-the-counter
market. Therefore, options on forward
contracts and physical
commodities possess many of the same characteristics of forward
contracts with respect to offsetting positions and credit risk
that are described above.
Swap transactions generally involve
contracts with a
counterparty 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.
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Swap
contracts are principally traded off-exchange, although
recently, as a result of regulatory changes enacted as part of
the CFMA, certain swap
contracts are now being traded in
electronic trading facilities and cleared through clearing
organizations.
Swaps are usually entered into on a net basis, that is, the two
payment streams are netted out in a cash settlement on the
payment date or dates specified in the agreement, with the
parties receiving or paying, as the case may be, only the net
amount of the two payments. Swaps do not generally involve the
delivery of underlying assets or principal. Accordingly, the
risk of loss with respect to swaps is generally limited to the
net amount of payments that the party is contractually obligated
to make. In some swap transactions one or both counterparties
may require collateral deposits from the other counterparty to
support that counterparty’s obligation under the swap
agreement. If one counterparty to such a swap defaults, the risk
of loss consists of the net amount of payments that the party is
contractually entitled to receive less to any collateral
deposits it is holding.
The two broad classes of persons who trade commodities are
hedgers and speculators. Hedgers include financial institutions
that manage or deal in interest rate-sensitive instruments,
foreign currencies or stock portfolios, and commercial market
participants, such as farmers and manufacturers, that market or
process commodities. Hedging is a protective procedure designed
to lock in profits that could otherwise be lost due to an
adverse movement in the underlying commodity, for example, the
adverse price movement between the time a merchandiser or
processor enters into a
contract to buy or sell a raw or
processed commodity at a certain price and the time he must
perform the
contract. In such a case, at the time the hedger
contracts to physically sell the commodity at a future date he
will simultaneously buy a futures or forward
contract for the
necessary equivalent quantity of the commodity. At the time for
performance of the
contract, the hedger may accept delivery
under his futures
contract and sell the commodity quantity as
required by his physical
contract or he may buy the actual
commodity, sell if under the physical
contract and close out his
position by making an offsetting sale of a futures
contract.
The commodity interest markets enable the hedger to shift the
risk of price fluctuations. The usual objective of the hedger is
to protect the profit that he expects to earn from farming,
merchandising, or processing operations rather than to profit
from his trading. However, at times the impetus for a hedge
transaction may result in part from speculative objectives.
Unlike the hedger, the speculator generally expects neither to
make nor take delivery of the underlying commodity. Instead, the
speculator risks his capital with the hope of making profits
from price fluctuations in the commodities. The speculator is,
in effect, the risk bearer who assumes the risks that the hedger
seeks to avoid. Speculators rarely make or take delivery of the
underlying commodity; rather they attempt to close out their
positions prior to the delivery date. Because the speculator may
take either a long or short position in commodities, it is
possible for him to make profits or incur losses regardless of
whether prices go up or down.
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Futures Exchanges and Clearing Organizations |
Futures exchanges provide centralized market facilities in which
multiple persons have the ability to execute or trade
contracts
by accepting bids and offers from multiple participants. Futures
exchanges may provide for execution of trades at a physical
location utilizing trading pits and/or may provide for trading
to be done electronically through computerized matching of bids
and offers pursuant to various algorithms. Members of a
particular exchange and the trades executed on such exchanges
are subject to the rules of that exchange. Futures exchanges and
clearing organizations are given reasonable latitude in
promulgating rules and regulations to control and regulate their
members. Examples of regulations by exchanges and clearing
organizations include the establishment of initial margin
levels, rules regarding trading practices,
contract
specifications, speculative position limits, daily price
fluctuation limits, and execution and clearing fees.
55
Clearing organizations provide services designed to mutualize or
transfer the credit risk arising from the trading of
contracts
on an exchange or other electronic trading facility. Once trades
made between members of an exchange or electronic trading
facility have been confirmed, the clearing organization becomes
substituted for the clearing member acting on behalf of each
buyer and each seller of
contracts traded on the exchange or
trading platform and in effect becomes the other party to the
trade. Thereafter, each clearing member party to the trade looks
only to the clearing organization for performance. The clearing
organization generally establishes some sort of security or
guarantee fund to which all clearing members of the exchange
must contribute; this fund acts as an emergency buffer that is
intended to enable the clearing organization to meet its
obligations with regard to the other side of an insolvent
clearing member’s
contracts. Furthermore, the clearing
organization requires margin deposits and continuously marks
positions to market to provide some assurance that their members
will be able to fulfill their contractual obligations. Thus, a
central function of the clearing organization is to ensure the
integrity of trades, and members effecting transactions on an
exchange need not concern themselves with the solvency of the
party on the opposite side of the trade; their only remaining
concerns are the respective solvencies of their own customers,
their clearing broker and the clearing organization. The
clearing organizations do not deal with customers, but only with
their member firms and the guarantee of performance for open
positions provided by the clearing organization does not run to
customers.
Futures exchanges in the United States are subject to
varying degrees of regulation by the CFTC based on their
designation as one of the following: a designated
contract
market, a derivatives transaction execution facility, an exempt
board of trade or an electronic trading facility.
A designated
contract market is the most highly regulated level
of futures exchange. Designated
contract markets may offer
products to retail customers on an unrestricted basis. To be
designated as a
contract market, the exchange must demonstrate
that it satisfies specified general criteria for designation,
such as having the ability to prevent market manipulation, rules
and procedures to ensure fair and equitable trading, position
limits, dispute resolution procedures, minimization of conflicts
of interest and protection of market participants. Among the
principal designated
contract markets in the United States are
the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and
the New York Mercantile Exchange. Each of the designated
contract markets in the United States must provide for the
clearance and settlement of transactions with a CFTC-registered
derivatives clearing organization.
A derivatives transaction execution facility, or DTEF, is a new
type of exchange that is subject to fewer regulatory
requirements than a designated
contract market but is subject to
both commodity interest and participant limitations. DTEFs limit
access to eligible traders that qualify as either eligible
contract participants or eligible commercial entities for
futures and option
contracts on commodities that have a nearly
inexhaustible deliverable supply, are highly unlikely to be
susceptible to the threat of manipulation, or have no cash
market, security futures products, and futures and option
contracts on commodities that the CFTC may determine, on a
case-by-case basis, are highly unlikely to be susceptible to the
threat of manipulation. In addition, certain commodity interests
excluded or exempt from the CEA, such as swaps, etc. may be
traded on a DTEF. There is no requirement that a DTEF use a
clearing organization, except with respect to trading in
security futures
contracts, in which case the clearing
organization must be a securities clearing agency. However, if
futures
contracts and options on futures
contracts on a DTEF are
cleared, then it must be through a CFTC-registered derivatives
clearing organization, except that some excluded or exempt
commodities traded on a DTEF may be cleared through a clearing
organization other than one registered with the CFTC.
An exempt board of trade is also a newly designated form of
exchange. An exempt board of trade is substantially unregulated,
subject only to CFTC anti-fraud and anti-manipulation authority.
An exempt board of trade is permitted to trade futures
contracts
and options on futures
contracts provided that the underlying
commodity is not a security or securities index and has an
inexhaustible deliverable supply or no cash market. All traders
on an exempt board of trade must qualify as eligible
contract
participants.
Contracts deemed eligible to be traded on an
exempt board of trade include
contracts on interest rates,
56
exchange rates, currencies, credit risks or measures, debt
instruments, measures of inflation, or other macroeconomic
indices or measures. There is no requirement that an exempt
board of trade use a clearing organization. However, if
contracts on an exempt board of trade are cleared, then it must
be through a CFTC-registered derivatives clearing organization.
A board of trade electing to operate as an exempt board of trade
must file a written notification with the CFTC.
An electronic trading facility is a new form of exchange that
operates by means of an electronic or telecommunications network
and maintains an automated audit trail of bids, offers, and the
matching of orders or the execution of transactions on the
electronic trading facility. The CEA does not apply to, and the
CFTC has no jurisdiction over, transactions on an electronic
trading facility in certain excluded commodities that are
entered into between principals that qualify as eligible
contract participants, subject only to CFTC anti-fraud and
anti-manipulation authority. In general, excluded commodities
include interest rates, currencies, securities, securities
indices or other financial, economic or commercial indices or
measures.
The General Partner intends to monitor the development of and
opportunities and risks presented by the new less-regulated
exchanges and exempt boards and may, in the future, allocate a
percentage of USOF’s assets to trading in products on these
exchanges. Provided USOF maintains assets exceeding
$5 million, USOF would qualify as an eligible
contract
participant and thus would be able to trade on such exchanges.
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Non-U.S. Futures
Exchanges |
Non-U.S. futures
exchanges differ in certain respects from their
U.S. counterparts. Importantly,
non-U.S. futures
exchanges are not subject to regulation by the CFTC, but rather
are regulated by their home country regulator. In contrast to
U.S. designated
contract markets, some
non-U.S. exchanges
are principals’ markets, where trades remain the liability
of the traders involved, and the exchange or an affiliated
clearing organization, if any, does not become substituted for
any party. Due to the absence of a clearing system, such
exchanges are significantly more susceptible to disruptions.
Further, participants in such markets must often satisfy
themselves as to the individual creditworthiness of each entity
with which they enter into a trade. Trading on
non-U.S. exchanges
is often in the currency of the exchange’s home
jurisdiction. Consequently, USOF is subject to the additional
risk of fluctuations in the exchange rate between such
currencies and U.S. dollars and the possibility that
exchange controls could be imposed in the future. Trading on
non-U.S. exchanges
may differ from trading on U.S. exchanges in a variety of
ways and, accordingly, may subject USOF to additional risks.
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Speculative Position Limits |
The CFTC and U.S. designated
contract markets have
established limits or position accountability rules, referred to
as speculative position limits or position limits, on the
maximum net long or net short speculative position that any
person or group of persons under common trading control (other
than a hedger, which USOF is not) may hold, own or control in
commodity interests. Among the purposes of speculative position
limits is to prevent a corner or squeeze on a market or undue
influence on prices by any single trader or group of traders.
The position limits currently established by the CFTC apply to
certain agricultural commodity interests, such as grains (oats,
barley, and flaxseed), soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton, eggs, rye,
and potatoes, but not to interests in energy products. In
addition, U.S. exchanges may set position limits for all
commodity interests traded on that exchange, including those
involving energy products. Certain exchanges or clearing
organizations also set limits on the total net positions that
may be held by a clearing broker. In general, no position limits
are in effect in forward or other
over-the-counter
contract trading or in trading on
non-U.S. futures
exchanges, although the principals with which USOF and the
clearing brokers may trade in such markets may impose such
limits as a matter of credit policy. For purposes of determining
position limits USOF’s commodity interest positions will
not be attributable to investors in their own commodity interest
trading.
57
Most U.S. futures exchanges (but generally not
non-U.S. exchanges)
may limit the amount of fluctuation in some futures
contract or
options on futures
contract prices during a single trading day
by regulations. These regulations specify what are referred to
as daily price fluctuation limits or more commonly, daily
limits. The daily limits establish the maximum amount that the
price of a futures or options on futures
contract may vary
either up or down from the previous day’s settlement price.
Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular futures or
options on futures
contract, no trades may be made at a price
beyond the limit. Positions in the futures or options
contract
may then be taken or liquidated, if at all, only at inordinate
expense or if traders are willing to effect trades at or within
the limit during the period for trading on such day. Because the
daily limit rule governs price movement only for a particular
trading day, it does not limit losses and may in fact
substantially increase losses because it may prevent the
liquidation of unfavorable positions. Futures
contract prices
have occasionally moved the daily limit for several consecutive
trading days, thus preventing prompt liquidation of positions
and subjecting the trader to substantial losses for those days.
The concept of daily price limits is not relevant to
over-the-counter
contracts, including forwards and swaps, and
thus such limits are not imposed by banks and others who deal in
those markets.
Commodity prices are volatile and, although ultimately
determined by the interaction of supply and demand, are subject
to many other influences, including the psychology of the
marketplace and speculative assessments of future world and
economic events. Political climate, interest rates, treaties,
balance of payments, exchange controls and other governmental
interventions as well as numerous other variables affect the
commodity markets, and even with comparatively complete
information it is impossible for any trader to predict reliably
commodity prices.
Futures exchanges in the United States are subject to varying
degrees of regulation under the CEA depending on whether such
exchange is a designated
contract market, DTEF, exempt board of
trade or ETF. Derivatives clearing organizations are also
subject to the CEA and CFTC regulation. The CFTC is the
governmental agency charged with responsibility for regulation
of futures exchanges and commodity interest trading conducted on
those exchanges. The CFTC’s function is to implement the
CEA’s objectives of preventing price manipulation and
excessive speculation and promoting orderly and efficient
commodity interest markets. In addition, the various exchanges
and clearing organizations themselves exercise regulatory and
supervisory authority over their member firms.
The CFTC possesses exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the
activities of commodity pool operators and commodity trading
advisors and has adopted regulations with respect to the
activities of those persons and/or entities. Under the CEA, a
registered commodity pool operator, such as the General Partner,
is required to make annual filings with the CFTC describing its
organization, capital structure, management and controlling
persons. In addition, the CEA authorizes the CFTC to require and
review books and records of, and documents prepared by,
registered commodity pool operators. Pursuant to this authority,
the CFTC requires commodity pool operators to keep accurate,
current and orderly records for each pool that they operate. The
CFTC may suspend the registration of a commodity pool operator
(1) if the CFTC finds that the operator’s trading
practices tend to disrupt orderly market conditions, (2) if
any controlling person of the operator is subject to an order of
the CFTC denying such person trading privileges on any exchange,
and (3) in certain other circumstances. Suspension,
restriction or termination of the General Partner’s
registration as a commodity pool operator would prevent it,
until that registration were to be reinstated, from managing
USOF, and might result in the termination of USOF. USOF itself
is not required to be registered with the CFTC in any capacity.
The CEA gives the CFTC similar authority with respect to the
activities of commodity trading advisors. If a trading
advisor’s commodity trading advisor registration were to be
terminated, restricted or
58
suspended, the trading advisor would be unable, until the
registration were to be reinstated, to render trading advice to
USOF.
The CEA requires all futures commission merchants, such as
USOF’s clearing brokers, to meet and maintain specified
fitness and financial requirements, to segregate customer funds
from proprietary funds and account separately for all
customers’ funds and positions, and to maintain specified
books and records open to inspection by the staff of the CFTC.
The CFTC has similar authority over introducing brokers, or
persons who solicit or accept orders for commodity interest
trades but who do not accept margin deposits for the execution
of trades. The CEA authorizes the CFTC to regulate trading by
futures commission merchants and by their officers and
directors, permits the CFTC to require action by exchanges in
the event of market emergencies, and establishes an
administrative procedure under which customers may institute
complaints for damages arising from alleged violations of the
CEA. The CEA also gives the states powers to enforce its
provisions and the regulations of the CFTC.
USOF’s investors are afforded prescribed rights for
reparations under the CEA. Investors may also be able to
maintain a private right of action for violations of the CEA.
The CFTC has adopted rules implementing the reparation
provisions of the CEA, which provide that any person may file a
complaint for a reparations award with the CFTC for violation of
the CEA against a floor broker or a futures commission merchant,
introducing broker, commodity trading advisor, commodity pool
operator, and their respective associated persons.
Pursuant to authority in the CEA, the NFA has been formed and
registered with the CFTC as a registered futures association. At
the present time, the NFA is the only self-regulatory
organization for commodity interest professionals, other than
futures exchanges. The CFTC has delegated to the NFA
responsibility for the registration of commodity trading
advisors, commodity pool operators, futures commission
merchants, introducing brokers, and their respective associated
persons and floor brokers. The General Partner, each trading
advisor, the selling agents and the clearing brokers are members
of the NFA. As such, they are subject to NFA standards relating
to fair trade practices, financial condition and consumer
protection. USOF itself is not required to become a member of
the NFA. As the self-regulatory body of the commodity interest
industry, the NFA promulgates rules governing the conduct of
professionals and disciplines those professionals that do not
comply with these rules. The NFA also arbitrates disputes
between members and their customers and conducts registration
and fitness screening of applicants for membership and audits of
its existing members.
The regulations of the CFTC and the NFA prohibit any
representation by a person registered with the CFTC or by any
member of the NFA, that registration with the CFTC, or
membership in the NFA, in any respect indicates that the CFTC or
the NFA, as the case may be, has approved or endorsed that
person or that person’s trading program or objectives. The
registrations and memberships of the parties described in this
summary must not be considered as constituting any such approval
or endorsement. Likewise, no futures exchange has given or will
give any similar approval or endorsement.
The regulation of commodity interest trading in the United
States and other countries is an evolving area of the law. The
various statements made in this summary are subject to
modification by legislative action and changes in the rules and
regulations of the CFTC, the NFA, the futures exchanges,
clearing organizations and other regulatory bodies.
The function of the CFTC is to implement the objectives of the
CEA of preventing price manipulation and other disruptions to
market integrity, avoiding systemic risk, preventing fraud and
promoting innovation, competition and financial integrity of
transactions. As mentioned above, this regulation, among other
things, provides that the trading of commodity interest
contracts generally must be upon exchanges designated as
contract markets or DTEFs and that all trading on those
exchanges must be done by or through exchange members. Under the
CFMA, commodity interest trading in some commodities between
sophisticated persons may be traded on a trading facility not
regulated by the CFTC. As a general matter, trading in spot
contracts, forward
contracts, options on forward
contracts or
commodities, or swap
contracts between eligible
contract
participants is not within the jurisdiction of the
59
CFTC and may therefore be effectively unregulated. The trading
advisors may engage in those transactions on behalf of USOF in
reliance on this exclusion from regulation.
In general, the CFTC does not regulate the interbank and forward
foreign currency markets with respect to transactions in
contracts between certain sophisticated counterparties such as
USOF or between certain regulated institutions and retail
investors. Although U.S. banks are regulated in various
ways by the Federal Reserve Board, the Comptroller of the
Currency and other U.S. federal and state banking
officials, banking authorities do not regulate the forward
markets.
While the U.S. government does not currently impose any
restrictions on the movements of currencies, it could choose to
do so. The imposition or relaxation of exchange controls in
various jurisdictions could significantly affect the market for
that and other jurisdictions’ currencies. Trading in the
interbank market also exposes USOF to a risk of default since
failure of a bank with which USOF had entered into a forward
contract would likely result in a default and thus possibly
substantial losses to USOF.
The CFTC is prohibited by statute from regulating trading on
non-U.S. futures
exchanges and markets. The CFTC, however, has adopted
regulations relating to the marketing of
non-U.S. futures
contracts in the United States. These regulations permit certain
contracts traded on
non-U.S. exchanges
to be offered and sold in the United States.
Original or initial margin is the minimum amount of funds that
must be deposited by a commodity interest trader with the
trader’s broker to initiate and maintain an open position
in futures
contracts. Maintenance margin is the amount
(generally less than the original margin) to which a
trader’s account may decline before he must deliver
additional margin. A margin deposit is like a cash performance
bond. It helps assure the trader’s performance of the
futures
contracts that he or she purchases or sells. Futures
contracts are customarily bought and sold on initial margin that
represents a very small percentage (ranging upward from less
than 2%) of the aggregate purchase or sales price of the
contract. Because of such low margin requirements, price
fluctuations occurring in the futures markets may create profits
and losses that, in relation to the amount invested, are greater
than are customary in other forms of investment or speculation.
As discussed below, adverse price changes in the futures
contract may result in margin requirements that greatly exceed
the initial margin. In addition, the amount of margin required
in connection with a particular futures
contract is set from
time to time by the exchange on which the
contract is traded and
may be modified from time to time by the exchange during the
term of the
contract.
Brokerage firms, such as USOF’s clearing brokers, carrying
accounts for traders in commodity interest
contracts may not
accept lower, and generally require higher, amounts of margin as
a matter of policy to further protect themselves. The clearing
brokers require Fund to make margin deposits equal to exchange
minimum levels for all commodity interest
contracts. This
requirement may be altered from time to time in the clearing
brokers’ discretion.
Trading in the
over-the-counter
markets where no clearing facility is provided generally does
not require margin but generally does require the extension of
credit between counterparties.
When a trader purchases an option, there is no margin
requirement; however, the option premium must be paid in full.
When a trader sells an option, on the other hand, he or she is
required to deposit margin in an amount determined by the margin
requirements established for the underlying interest and, in
addition, an amount substantially equal to the current premium
for the option. The margin requirements imposed on the selling
of options, although adjusted to reflect the probability that
out-of-the-money
options will not be exercised, can in fact be higher than those
imposed in dealing in the futures markets directly. Complicated
margin requirements apply to spreads and conversions, which are
complex trading strategies in which a trader acquires a mixture
of options positions and positions in the underlying interest.
60
Margin requirements are computed each day by a trader’s
clearing broker. When the market value of a particular open
commodity interest position changes to a point where the margin
on deposit does not satisfy maintenance margin requirements, a
margin call is made by the broker. If the margin call is not met
within a reasonable time, the broker may close out the
trader’s position. With respect to USOF’s trading,
USOF (and not its investors personally) is subject to margin
calls.
Finally, many major U.S. exchanges have passed certain
cross margining arrangements involving procedures pursuant to
which the futures and options positions held in an account
would, in the case of some accounts, be aggregated and margin
requirements would be assessed on a portfolio basis, measuring
the total risk of the combined positions.
Potential Advantages of Investment
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The Advantages of Non-Correlation |
Given that historically, the price of oil and of Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests has had very little
correlation to the stock and bond markets, the General Partner
believes that the performance of USOF should also exhibit a
substantial degree of non-correlation with the performance of
traditional equity and debt portfolio components, in part
because of the ease of selling commodity interests short. This
feature of many commodity interest
contracts — being
able to be long or short a commodity interest position with
similar ease — means that profit and loss from
commodity interest trading is not dependent upon economic
prosperity or stability.
However, non-correlation will not provide any diversification
advantages unless the non-correlated assets are outperforming
other portfolio assets, and it is entirely possible that USOF
may not outperform other sectors of an investor’s
portfolio, or may produce losses. Additionally, although adding
USOF’s units to an investor’s portfolio may provide
diversification, USOF Fund is not a hedging mechanism
vis-à-vis traditional debt and equity portfolio components
and you should not assume that USOF units will appreciate during
periods of inflation or stock and bond market declines.
Non-correlated performance should not be confused with
negatively correlated performance. Negative correlation occurs
when the performance of two asset classes are in opposite
direction to each other. Non-correlation means only that
USOF’s performance will likely have little relation to the
performance of equity and debt instruments, reflecting the
General Partner’s belief that certain factors that affect
equity and debt prices may affect USOF differently and that
certain factors that affect equity and debt prices may not
affect USOF at all. USOF’s net asset value per unit may
decline or increase more or less than equity and debt
instruments during both rising and falling cash markets. The
General Partner does not expect that USOF’s performance
will be negatively correlated to general debt and equity markets.
Unlike some alternative investment funds, USOF does not borrow
money in order to obtain leverage, so USOF does not incur any
interest expense. Rather, USOF’s margin deposits are
maintained in Treasuries and interest is earned on 100% of
USOF’s available assets, which include unrealized profits
credited to USOF’s accounts.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations
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Critical Accounting Policies |
Preparation of the financial statements and related disclosures
in compliance with accounting principles generally accepted in
the United States of America requires the application of
appropriate accounting rules and guidance, as well as the use of
estimates. USOF’s application of these policies involves
judgments and actual results may differ from the estimates used.
The General Partner has evaluated the nature and types of
estimates that it will make in preparing USOF’s financial
statements and related disclosures once USOF commences trading
operations and has
61
determined that the valuation of its investments which are not
traded on a United States or internationally recognized futures
exchange (such as forward
contracts and over-the-counter
contracts) involves a critical accounting policy. While not
currently applicable given the fact that USOF is not currently
involved in trading activities, the values which will be used by
USOF for its forward
contracts will be provided by its commodity
broker who will use market prices when available, while
over-the-counter
contracts will be valued based on the present
value of estimated future cash flows that would be received from
or paid to a third party in settlement of these derivative
contracts prior to their delivery date and will be valued on a
daily basis.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources |
USOF will generate cash primarily from (i) the sale of
Creation Baskets and (ii) interest earned on cash and its
investments in Treasuries. As of [
April 2, 2006], USOF has
not begun trading activities. Once USOF begins trading
activities, it is anticipated that all of its net assets will be
allocated to trading in oil interests. A significant portion of
the net asset value will be held in Treasuries and cash that
could or will be used as margin for USOF’s trading in Oil
Interests. The percentage that Treasuries will bear to the total
net assets will vary from period to period as the market values
of the oil interests change. The balance of the net assets will
be held in USOF’s Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil
Interests trading account. Interest earned on USOF’s
interest bearing-funds will be paid to USOF.
USOF’s investment in oil interests will be subject of
periods of illiquidity because of market conditions, regulatory
considerations and other reasons. For example, commodity
exchanges limit the fluctuations in Oil Futures
Contracts prices
during a single day by regulations referred to as
“daily
limits.” During a single day, no trades may be executed at
prices beyond the daily limit. Once the price of an Oil Futures
Contract has increased or decreased by an amount equal to the
daily limit, positions in the
contracts can neither be taken or
liquidated unless the traders are willing to effect trades at or
within the limit. Such market conditions could prevent USOF from
promptly liquidating its positions in Oil Futures
Contracts.
To date, all of USOF’s and the General Partner’s
expenses have been funded by their affiliates. These affiliates
are under no obligation to continue payment of USOF’s or
the General Partner’s expenses. If such affiliates were to
discontinue the payment of these expenses and the General
Partner and USOF are unsuccessful in raising sufficient funds to
cover USOF’s expenses or in locating any other source of
funding, USOF will terminate and investors may lose all or part
of their investment.
Trading in Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests such as
forwards will involve USOF entering into contractual commitments
to purchase or sell oil at a specified date in the future. The
gross or face amount of the
contracts will significantly exceed
USOF’s future cash requirements since USOF intends to close
out its open positions prior to settlement. As a result, USOF
should only be subject only to the risk of loss arising from the
change in value of the
contracts. USOF considers the
“fair
value” of its derivative instruments to be the unrealized
gain or loss on the
contracts. The market risk associated with
USOF’s commitments to purchase oil will be limited to the
gross of face amount of the contacts held. However, should USOF
enter into a contractual commitment to sell oil, it would be
required to make delivery of the oil at the
contract price,
repurchase the
contract at prevailing prices or settle in cash.
Since there are no limits on the future price of oil, the market
risk to USOF could be unlimited.
USOF’s exposure to market risk will depend on a number of
factors including the markets for oil, the volatility of
interest rates and foreign exchange rates, the liquidity of the
Oil
Contracts and Other Oil Interests markets and the
relationships among the
contracts held by USOF. The limited
experience that USOF has had in utilizing its model to trade in
oil interests in a manner intended to track the Spot Price of
oil, as well as drastic market occurrences, could ultimately
lead to the loss of all or substantially all of an investors
capital.
62
When USOF enters into Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil
Interests, it will be exposed to the credit risk that its
counterparty will not be able to meet its obligations. The
counterparty for the Oil Futures
Contracts traded on the New
York Mercantile Exchange and on most other foreign futures
exchanges is the clearinghouse associated with the particular
exchange. In general, clearinghouses are backed by their members
who may be required to share in the financial burden resulting
from the nonperformance of one of their members that should
significantly reduce credit risk. Some foreign exchanges are not
backed by their clearinghouse members but may be backed by a
consortium of banks or other financial institutions. There can
be no assurance that any counterparty, clearing house, or their
financial backers will satisfy their obligations to USOF.
The General Partner will attempt to manage the credit risk of
USOF by following various trading limitations and policies. In
particular, USOF intends to post margin and/or hold liquid
assets that will be approximately equal to the face amount of
its obligations to counterparties under the Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests it holds. The General Partner
will implement procedures that will include, but will not be
limited to, executing and clearing trades only with creditworthy
parties and/or requiring the posting of collateral or margin by
such parties for the benefit of USOF to limit its credit
exposure.
ABN Amro, USOF’s commodity broker, or any other broker that
may be retained by USOF in the future, when acting as
USOF’s futures commission merchant in accepting orders to
purchase or sell Oil Futures
Contracts on United States
exchanges, will be required by CFTC regulations to separately
account for and segregate as belonging to USOF, all assets of
USOF relating to domestic Oil Futures
Contracts trading. These
commodity brokers are not allowed to commingle USOF’s
assets with their other assets. In addition, the CFTC requires
commodity brokers to hold in a secure account the USOF assets
related to foreign Oil Futures
Contract trading.
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Off Balance Sheet Financing |
As of [
April 2, 2006], USOF has no loan guarantee, credit
support or other off-balance sheet arrangements of any kind
other than agreements entered into in the normal course of
business, which may include indemnification provisions relating
to certain risks service providers undertake in performing
services which are in the best interests of USOF. While
USOF’s exposure under these indemnification provisions
cannot be estimated, they are not expected to have a material
impact on USOF’s financial position.
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Redemption Basket Obligation |
Other than as necessary to meet its investment objective and pay
its contractual obligations described below, USOF will require
liquidity to redeem Redemption Baskets. USOF intends to
satisfy this obligation through the transfer of its Treasuries
or cash in an amount of proportionate to the number of units
being redeemed, as described above under “Determination of
Redemption Distribution.”
USOF’s primary contractual obligations will be with the
General Partner. In return for its services, the General Partner
will be entitled to a management fee calculated as a fixed
percentage of USOF’s NAV, currently .50% for an NAV of
$1 billion or less, and thereafter .20% of the NAV above
$1 billion. The General Partner or its affiliate,
Wainwright, has agreed to pay the start-up costs associated with
the formation of USOF, primarily its legal, accounting and other
costs in connection with its registration with the CFTC as a CPO
and the registration and listing of USOF with the SEC and the
American Stock Exchange, respectively. The General Partner has
agreed to pay the fees of the Custodian and transfer agent,
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., as well as Brown
Brothers Harriman & Co.’s fees for performing
administrative services, including in connection with
USOF’s preparation of its financial statements and its SEC
and CFTC reports. The General Partner will also pay the fees of
USOF’s accountants as well as those of its Marketing Agent.
63
In addition to the General Partner’s management fee, USOF
pays its brokerage fees, over-the-counter dealer spreads, fees
to ABN Amro, and extraordinary expenses. The latter are expenses
not in the ordinary course of its business, including the
indemnification of any person against liabilities and
obligations to the extent permitted by law and under the LP
Agreement, the bringing or defending of actions in law or in
equity or otherwise conducting litigation and incurring legal
expenses and the settlement of claims and litigation. Commission
payments to ABN Amro are on a
contract-by-
contract, or round
turn, basis.
The parties cannot anticipate the amount of payments that will
be required under these arrangements for future periods as
USOF’s net asset values and trading levels to meet its
investment objectives will not be known until a future date.
These agreements are effective for a specific term agreed upon
by the parties with an option to renew, or, in some cases, are
in effect for the duration of USOF’s existence. Either
party may terminate these agreements earlier for certain reasons
listed in the agreements.
Limited Partnership Agreement
The following paragraphs are a summary of certain provisions of
our LP Agreement. The following discussion is qualified in its
entirety by reference to our LP Agreement.
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Authority of the General Partner |
Our General Partner is generally authorized to perform all acts
deemed necessary to carry out these purposes and to conduct our
business. Our partnership existence will continue into
perpetuity, until terminated in accordance with our LP
Agreement. Our General Partner has a
power of attorney to take
certain actions, including the execution and filing of
documents, on our behalf and with respect to our LP Agreement.
However, our partnership agreement limits the authority of our
General Partner as follows:
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Other than in connection with the issuance or redemption of
units, or upon termination of the partnership as contemplated by
the LP Agreement, the General Partner may not sell, exchange or
otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of the
partnership’s assets in a single transaction or a series of
related transactions (including by way of merger, consolidation
or other combination with any other person) or approve on behalf
of the partnership the sale, exchange or other disposition of
all or substantially all of the assets of all of the
partnership, taken as a whole, without the approval of at least
a majority of the limited partners; provided, however, that this
provision shall not preclude or limit the General Partner’s
ability to mortgage, pledge, hypothecate or grant a security
interest in all or substantially all of the partnership’s
assets and shall not apply to any forced sale of any or all of
the partnership’s assets pursuant to the foreclosure of, or
other realization upon, any such encumbrance. |
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The General Partner is not authorized to institute or initiate
on behalf of, or otherwise cause, the partnership to
(a) make a general assignment for the benefit of creditors;
(b) file a voluntary bankruptcy petition; or (c) file
a petition seeking for the partnership a reorganization,
arrangement, composition, readjustment liquidation, dissolution
or similar relief under any law. |
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The General Partner may not, without written approval of the
specific act by all of the limited partners or by other written
instrument executed and delivered by all of the limited partners
subsequent to the date of the LP Agreement, take any action in
contravention of the LP Agreement, including, without
limitation, (i) any act that would make it impossible to
carry on the ordinary business of the partnership, except as
otherwise provided in the LP Agreement; (ii) possess
partnership property, or assign any rights in specific
partnership property, for other than a partnership purpose;
(iii) admit a person as a partner, except as otherwise
provided in the LP Agreement; (iv) amend the LP Agreement
in any manner, except as otherwise provided in the LP Agreement
or applicable law; or (v) transfer its interest as General
Partner of the partnership, except as otherwise provided in the
LP Agreement. |
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In general, unless approved by a majority of the limited
partners, our General Partner shall not take any action, or
refuse to take any reasonable action, the effect of which would
be to cause us, to the |
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extent it would materially and adversely affect limited
partners, to be taxable as a corporation or to be treated as an
association taxable as a corporation for federal income tax
purposes. |
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Withdrawal or removal of our General Partner |
The General Partner shall be deemed to have withdrawn from the
partnership upon the occurrence of any one of the following
events:
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the General Partner voluntarily withdraws from the partnership
by giving written notice to the other Partners; |
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the General Partner transfers all of its rights as General
Partner; |
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the General Partner is removed; |
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the General Partner (A) makes a general assignment for the
benefit of creditors; (B) files a voluntary bankruptcy
petition; (C) files a petition or answer seeking for itself
a reorganization, arrangement, composition, readjustment
liquidation, dissolution or similar relief under any law;
(D) files an answer or other pleading admitting or failing
to contest the material allegations of a petition filed against
the General Partner in a proceeding of the type described in
clauses (A) — (C) of this sentence; or
(E) seeks, consents to or acquiesces in the appointment of
a trustee, receiver or liquidator of the General Partner or of
all or any substantial part of its properties; |
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a final and non-appealable judgment is entered by a court with
appropriate jurisdiction ruling that the General Partner is
bankrupt or insolvent or a final and non-appealable order for
relief is entered by a court with appropriate jurisdiction
against the General Partner, in each case under any federal or
state bankruptcy or insolvency laws as now or hereafter in
effect; or |
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a certificate of dissolution or its equivalent is filed for the
General Partner, or 90 days expire after the date of notice
to the General Partner of revocation of its charter without a
reinstatement of its charter, under the laws of its state of
incorporation. |
The General Partner may be removed with or without cause if such
removal is approved by at least
662/3%
of the units (excluding for this purpose units held by the
General Partner and its Affiliates).
All acts of the limited partners should be done in accordance
with the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act
(“DRULPA”). Upon the written request of 20% or more in
interest of the limited partners, the General Partner may, but
is not required to, call a meeting of the limited partners.
Notice of such meeting shall be given within 30 days after,
and the meeting shall be held within 60 days after, receipt
of such request. The General Partner may also call a meeting not
less than 20 and not more than 60 days prior to the
meeting. Any such notice shall state briefly the purpose of the
meeting, which shall be held at a reasonable time and place. Any
limited partner may obtain a list of names, addresses, and
interests of the limited partners upon written request to the
General Partner.
Assuming that a limited partner does not take part in the
control of our business, and that he otherwise acts in
conformity with the provisions of our LP Agreement, his
liability under Delaware law will be limited, subject to certain
possible exceptions, generally to the amount of capital he is
obligated to contribute to us in respect of his units or other
limited partner interests plus his share of any of our
undistributed profits and assets. In light of the fact that a
limited partner’s liability may extend beyond his capital
contributions, a limited partner may lose more money than he
contributed.
Under Delaware law, a limited partner might be held liable for
USOF’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.
65
Under the Limited Partnership Agreement, a limited partner will
not be liable for assessments in addition to its initial capital
investment in any of USOF’s capital securities representing
limited partnership interests. However, a limited partner still
may be required to repay to USOF any amounts wrongfully returned
or distributed to it under some circumstances. Under Delaware
law, USOF may not make a distribution to limited partners if the
distribution causes USOF’s liabilities (other than
liabilities to partners on account of their partnership
interests and nonrecourse liabilities) to exceed the fair value
of USOF’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.
Fees of USOF
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Management Fee | |
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First $1,000,000,000
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0.50% of NAV |
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After the first $1,000,000,000
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0.20% of NAV |
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Fees are calculated on a daily basis (accrued at
1/365
of the applicable percentage of NAV on that day) and paid on a
monthly basis.
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Brokerage fee for Treasuries
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0.35 |
% |
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0.35 |
% |
Fees are calculated on a daily basis (based on a percentage of
the value of the transaction) and paid on a monthly basis.
Futures Commission Merchant
Fee
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Futures Commission Merchant fee
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$ |
9.00 per buy or sell |
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Fees are calculated on a daily basis for each buy or sell and
paid on a monthly basis.
The General Partner Has Conflicts of Interest
There are present and potential future conflicts of interest in
USOF’s structure and operation you should consider before
you purchase units. The General Partner will use this notice of
conflicts as a defense against any claim or other proceeding
made.
The General Partner’s officers, directors and employees, do
not devote their time exclusively to USOF. These persons are
directors, officers or employees of other entities which may
compete with USOF for their services. They could have a conflict
between their responsibilities to USOF and to those other
entities. The General Partner believes that it has sufficient
personnel, time, and working capital to discharge its
responsibilities in a fair manner and that these persons’
conflicts should not impair their ability to provide services to
USOF.
The General Partner’s principals, officers, directors and
employees may trade futures and related
contracts for their own
account. Limited partners and other unitholders will not be
permitted to inspect the trading records of the principals. A
conflict of interest may exist if their trades are in the same
markets and at the same time as USOF trades using the clearing
broker to be used by USOF. A potential conflict also may occur
when the General Partner’s principals trade their accounts
more aggressively or take positions in their accounts which are
opposite, or ahead of, the positions taken by USOF. The General
Partner will adopt a Code of Ethics to ensure that the officers,
directors, and employees of the General Partner and its
affiliates do not engage in trades that will harm the fund or
the unitholders.
66
The General Partner has sole current authority to manage the
investments and operations of USOF, 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 the ability to influence
matters such as amendment of the LP Agreement, change in
USOF’s basic investment policy, dissolution of this fund,
or the sale or distribution of USOF’s assets.
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No Resolution of Conflicts Procedures |
Whenever a conflict of interest exists or arises between the
General Partner on the one hand, and the partnership or any
limited partner, on the other hand, any resolution or course of
action by the General Partner 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
the General Partner 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:
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approved by the audit committee, although no party is obligated
to seek approval and the General Partner may adopt a resolution
or course of action that has not received approval; |
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on terms no less favorable to the limited partners than those
generally being provided to or available from unrelated third
parties; or |
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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 the
General Partner. You may not construe this prospectus as legal
or tax advice. Before making an investment in this fund, you
should read this entire prospectus, including the LP Agreement
(Appendix B). You should also consult with your personal
legal, tax, and other professional advisors.
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Interests of Named Experts and Counsel |
The General Partner has employed Sutherland Asbill &
Brennan LLP to prepare this prospectus. Neither the law firm nor
any other expert hired by USOF to give advice on the preparation
of this offering document have been hired on a contingent fee
basis. Nor do any of them have any present or future expectation
of interest in the General Partner, Marketing Agent, Authorized
Purchasers, Custodian, Administrator or other service providers
to USOF.
The General Partner’s Responsibility and Remedies
Pursuant to the DRULPA, parties may contractually modify or even
eliminate fiduciary duties in a partnership agreement to the
limited partnership itself, or to another partner or person
otherwise bound by the 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 partnership agreement, those expressed duties become
the standard courts will use to determine whether such duties
were breached. For this reason, USOF’s limited partnership
agreement does not explicitly provide for any fiduciary duties
so that common law fiduciary duty principles will apply to
measure the General Partner’s conduct.
A prospective investor should be aware that the General Partner
has a responsibility to limited partners of USOF to exercise
good faith and fairness in all dealings. The fiduciary
responsibility of a general partner to limited partners is a
developing and changing area of the law and limited partners who
67
have questions concerning the duties of the General Partner
should consult with their counsel. In the event that a limited
partner of USOF believes that the General Partner has violated
its fiduciary duty to the limited partners, he may seek legal
relief individually or on behalf of USOF under applicable laws,
including under DRULPA and under commodities laws, to recover
damages from or require an accounting by the General Partner.
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
units may be able to recover such losses from the General
Partner where the losses result from a violation by the General
Partner of the federal securities laws. State securities laws
may also provide certain remedies to limited partners. Limited
partners should be aware that performance by the General Partner
of its fiduciary duty to 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 Commodity Exchange Act for violations of the Commodity
Exchange Act or of any rule, regulation or order of the CFTC by
the General Partner.
Liability and Indemnification
Pursuant to the LP Agreement, we will indemnify and hold
harmless the General Partner and each officer, director,
employee and agent thereof 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 officer thereof
or by reason of its being or having been such a General Partner
or officer.
However we will not indemnity a Covered Person 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 believe that
such Covered Person’s action was in the best interest of
USOF, and except that no Covered Person shall be indemnified
against any liability to USOF 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.
Provisions of Law
According to applicable law, indemnification of the General
Partner is payable only if the General Partner determined, in
good faith, that the act, omission or conduct that gave rise to
the claim for indemnification was in the best interest of USOF
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 the General Partner, and
such indemnification or agreement to hold harmless is
recoverable only out of the assets of USOF and not from the
members, individually.
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Provisions of Federal and State Securities Laws |
This offering is made pursuant to federal and state securities
laws. If any indemnification of the General Partner arises out
of an alleged violation of such laws, it is subject to the
following legal conditions.
Those conditions require that no indemnification 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: there has been a successful adjudication on the merits
of each count involving alleged securities law violations as to
the General Partner or other particular indemnitee, or such
claim has been dismissed with prejudice on the
68
merits by a court of competent jurisdiction as to the General
Partner or other particular indemnitee, or a court of competent
jurisdiction approves a settlement of the claims against the
General Partner or other agent of USOF and finds that
indemnification of the settlement and related costs should be
made, provided, before seeking such approval, the General
Partner 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.
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Provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and NASAA
Guidelines |
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to the General Partner
or its directors, officers, or persons controlling USOF,
USOF has been informed that SEC and the various State
administrators believe that such indemnification is against
public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933 and the
North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc.
(NASAA) commodity pool guidelines and is therefore
unenforceable.
Books and Records
USOF will keep proper books of record and account of USOF at its
office located at 1320 Harbor Bay Parkway, Suite 145
Alameda,
California 94502 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 USOF’s satisfaction that such
person is a limited partner upon reasonable advance notice at
all reasonable times during the usual business hours of USOF.
USOF will keep a copy of USOF’s LP Agreement on file
in its office which will be available for inspection on
reasonable advance notice at all reasonable times during its
usual business hours by any limited partner.
Analysis of Critical Accounting Policies
USOF’s critical accounting policies are set forth in the
financial statements in this Prospectus prepared in accordance
with accounting principles generally accepted in the United
States of America, which require the use of certain accounting
policies that affect the amounts reported in these financial
statements, including the following: USOF trades are accounted
for on a trade-date basis and marked to market on a daily basis.
The difference between their cost and market value is recorded
as
“change in unrealized profit/loss” for open
(unrealized)
contracts, and recorded as
“realized
profit/loss” when open positions are closed out; the sum of
these amounts constitutes USOF’s trading revenues. Earned
interest income revenue, as well as management fee, and
brokerage fee expenses of USOF are recorded on an accrual basis.
The General Partner believes that all relevant accounting
assumptions and policies have been considered.
Statements, Filings, and Reports
At the end of each fiscal year, USOF will furnish to DTC
Participants for distribution to each person who is a unitholder
at the end of the fiscal year an annual report containing
USOF’s audited financial statements and other information
about USOF. The General Partner is responsible for the
registration and qualification of the units 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 the General Partner may select. The General
Partner is responsible for preparing all reports required by the
SEC and the CFTC, but has entered into an agreement with Brown
Brother Harriman & Co. to prepare these reports as
required by the SEC, CFTC and the American Stock Exchange on
USOF’s behalf.
The financial statements of USOF will be audited, as required by
law and as may be directed by the General Partner, by an
independent registered public accounting firm designated from
time to time by the General Partner. The accountants report will
be furnished by USOF to unitholders upon request. USOF will make
such elections, file such tax returns, and prepare, disseminate
and file such tax reports, as it is
69
advised by its counsel or accountants are from time to time
required by any applicable statute, rule or regulation.
Reports to Limited Partners
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As provided in the LP Agreement, the following reports will
be provided to limited partners: |
Annual Reports. Within 90 days after the end of each
fiscal year, the General Partner 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:
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(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, |
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(ii) a general description of the activities of the
partnership during the period covered by the report, and |
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(iii) a report of any material transactions between the
partnership and the General Partner or any of its affiliates,
including fees or compensation paid by the partnership and the
services performed by the General Partner or any such affiliate
of or such fees or compensation. |
Quarterly Reports. Within 45 days after the end of
each quarter of each fiscal year, the General Partner 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 the General Partner 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 after the
end of each month, the General Partner shall cause 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,
General Partner, commodity trading advisor (if any), futures
commission merchant, or the principals thereof that previously
have not been disclosed in the this Prospectus or any amendment
thereto, other account statements or annual reports.
USOF will provide information to its unitholders to the extent
required by applicable SEC, CFTC, and American Stock Exchange
requirements. An issuer, such as USOF, of exchange-traded
securities may not always readily know the identities of the
investors who own those securities. USOF will post the same
information that would otherwise be provided in USOF’s
reports to limited partners described above including its
monthly account statements, which will include, without
limitation, USOF’s NAV, on USOF’s
website
(
www.unitedstatesoilfund.com), which is currently under
construction.
Fiscal Year
The fiscal year of USOF will initially be the calendar year. The
General Partner may select an alternate fiscal year.
Governing Law; Consent To Delaware Jurisdiction
The rights of the General Partner, USOF, DTC (as registered
owner of USOF’s global certificate for units) and the
unitholders, are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware.
The General Partner, USOF and DTC and, by accepting units, each
DTC Participant and each unitholder, consents to the
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jurisdiction of the courts of the State of Delaware and any
federal courts located in Delaware. Such consent in not required
for any person to assert a claim of Delaware jurisdiction over
the General Partner or USOF.
Legal Matters
Within the past 5 years of the date of this prospectus,
there have been no material administrative, civil or criminal
actions against the General Partner, underwriter, or any
principal or affiliate of either of them. This includes any
actions pending, on appeal, concluded, threatened, or otherwise
known to them.
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP (the “Firm”)
is counsel to advise USOF and the General Partner with respect
to the preparation of units being offered hereby and will pass
upon the validity of the units being issued hereunder. The Firm
has also provided the General Partner with its opinion with
respect to federal income tax matters addressed herein.
The General Partner engaged an independent registered public
accounting firm to audit USOF.
Eisner LLP, an independent
registered public accounting firm, has audited the financial
statements of United States Oil Fund, LP, at
December 31, 2005 and of Victoria Bay Asset Management,
LLC, at
December 31, 2005, appearing in this prospectus and
in the registration statement and have been included herein in
reliance upon the report of
Eisner LLP, given on its authority
of such firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
Privacy Policy
USOF and the General Partner collect certain nonpublic personal
information about investors from the information provided by
them in certain documents, as well as in the course of
processing transaction requests. None of this information is
disclosed except as necessary in the course of processing
creations and redemptions and otherwise administering
USOF — and then only subject to customary undertakings
of confidentiality. USOF and the General Partner do not disclose
nonpublic personal information about investors to anyone, except
as required by law. USOF and the General Partner restrict access
to the nonpublic personal information they collect from
investors to those employees who need access to this information
to provide products and services to investors. USOF and the
General Partner each maintain physical, electronic and
procedural controls to safeguard this information. These
standards 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.
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 units in USOF, and the
U.S. federal income tax treatment of USOF, as of the date
hereof. This discussion is applicable to a beneficial owner of
units who purchases units in the offering to which this
prospectus relates, including a beneficial owner who purchases
units from an Authorized Purchaser. Except where noted
otherwise, it deals only with units held as capital assets and
does not deal with special situations, such as those of dealers
in securities or currencies, financial institutions, tax-exempt
entities, insurance companies, persons holding units as a part
of a position in a “straddle” or as part of a
“hedging,” “conversion” or other integrated
transaction for federal income tax purposes, traders in
securities or commodities that elect to use a
mark-to-market method
of accounting, or holders of units whose “functional
currency” is not the U.S. dollar. Furthermore, the
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discussion below is based upon the provisions of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and
regulations (“Treasury Regulations”), rulings and
judicial decisions thereunder as of the date hereof, and such
authorities may be repealed, revoked or modified so as to result
in U.S. federal income tax consequences different from
those discussed below.
Persons considering the purchase, ownership or disposition of
units should consult their own tax advisors concerning the
United States 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. unitholder” of a unit means a beneficial
owner of a unit that is, for United States federal income tax
purposes, (i) a citizen or resident of the United States,
(ii) a corporation or partnership created or organized in
or under the laws of the United States or any political
subdivision thereof, (iii) an estate the income of which is
subject to United States federal income taxation regardless of
its source or (iv) a trust (X) that is subject to the
supervision of a court within the United States and the control
of one or more United States persons as described in
section 7701(a)(30) of the Code or (Y) that has a
valid election in effect under applicable Treasury Regulations
to be treated as a United States person. A
“Non-U.S. unitholder”
is a holder that is not a U.S. unitholder. If a partnership
holds our units, the tax treatment of a partner will generally
depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the
partnership. If you are a partner of a partnership holding our
units, you should consult your own tax advisor regarding the tax
consequences.
The General Partner of USOF has received the opinion of
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, counsel to USOF, that
the material U.S. federal income tax consequences to USOF
and to U.S. unitholders and
Non-U.S. unitholders
will be as described below. In rendering its opinion, Sutherland
Asbill & Brennan LLP has relied on the facts described
in this prospectus as well as certain representations made by
USOF and the General Partner. The opinion of Sutherland
Asbill & Brennan LLP is not binding on the Internal
Revenue Service (“IRS”), and as a result, the IRS may
not agree with the tax positions taken by USOF. If challenged by
the IRS, USOF’s tax positions might not be sustained by the
courts. No ruling has been requested from the IRS with respect
to any matter affecting USOF or prospective investors.
EACH PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR IS ADVISED TO CONSULT ITS OWN TAX
ADVISOR AS TO THE U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES OF
AN INVESTMENT IN USOF AND AS TO APPLICABLE STATE, LOCAL OR
FOREIGN TAXES.
USOF is organized and will be operated as a limited partnership
in accordance with the provisions of the LP Agreement and
applicable state law. Under the Code, an entity classified as a
partnership that is deemed to be a “publicly traded
partnership” is generally taxable as a corporation for
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” (“qualifying income
exception”). For this purpose, 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 gains from
such commodities and futures, forwards and options with respect
to commodities. USOF and the General Partner have represented
the following to Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP:
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At least 90% of USOF’s gross income for each taxable year
will constitute “qualifying income” within the meaning
of Code section 7704 (as described above); |
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USOF will be organized and operated in accordance with its
governing agreements and applicable law; |
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USOF has not elected, and will not elect, to be classified as a
corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes. |
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Based in part on these representations, Sutherland
Asbill & Brennan LLP is of the opinion that USOF will
be classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes
and that it will not be taxable as a corporation for such
purposes.
If USOF 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, USOF would be taxable as a corporation for federal
income tax purposes and would pay federal income tax on its
income at regular corporate rates. In that event, unitholders
would not report their share of USOF’s income or loss on
their returns. In addition, distributions to unitholders would
be treated as dividends to the extent of USOF’s current and
accumulated earnings and profits. To the extent a distribution
exceeded USOF’s earnings and profits, the distribution
would be treated as a return of capital to the extent of a
unitholder’s basis in its units, and thereafter as gain
from the sale of units. Accordingly, if USOF were to be taxable
as a corporation, it would likely have a material adverse effect
on the economic return from an investment in USOF and on the
value of the units.
The remainder of this summary assumes that USOF will be
classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes and
that it will not be taxable as a corporation.
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Tax Consequences Of Ownership Of Units |
Taxation of USOF’s Income. No U.S. federal
income tax will be paid by USOF on its income. Instead, USOF
will file annual information returns, and each
U.S. unitholder will be required to report on its
U.S. federal income tax return its allocable share of the
income, gain, loss and deduction of USOF. For example,
unitholders will take into account their share of ordinary
income realized by USOF from accruals of interest on Treasuries
and other investments, and their share of gain from Oil Futures
Contracts and Other Oil Interests. These items must be reported
without regard to the amount (if any) of cash or property the
unitholder receives as a distribution from USOF during the
taxable year. Consequently, a unitholder may be allocated income
or gain by USOF 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 the General Partner currently does not intend
to make distributions, it is likely that in any year USOF
realizes net income and/or gain that a U.S. unitholder will
be required to pay taxes on its allocable share of such income
or gain from sources other than USOF distributions.
Allocations of USOF’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.
In general, USOF will apply a monthly
closing-of-the-books
convention in determining allocations of economic profit or loss
to unitholders. Income, gain, loss and deduction will be
determined on a monthly
“mark-to-market”
basis, taking into account our accrued income and deductions and
realized and unrealized gains and losses for the month. These
items will be allocated among the holders of units in proportion
to the number of units owned by them as of the close of business
on the last business day of the month. Items of taxable income,
deduction, gain, loss and credit recognized by USOF for federal
income tax purposes for any taxable year will be allocated among
holders in a manner that equitably reflects the allocation of
economic profit or loss. USOF intends to make the election
permitted by section 754 of the Code, which election will
be irrevocable without the consent of the Service. The effect of
this election will be that when a secondary market sale of our
units occur, we will adjust the purchaser’s proportionate
share of the tax basis of our assets to fair market value, as
reflected in the price paid for the units, 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 basis in its partnership interest and
its share of the tax bases of the partnership’s assets, so
that the partner’s allocable share of taxable gain or loss
on a
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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 units and
the tax bases of USOF’s assets at the time of the purchase,
the effect of the section 754 election on a purchaser of
units may be favorable or unfavorable.
USOF will apply certain assumptions and conventions in
determining and allocating items for tax purposes in order to
reduce the complexity and costs of administration. The General
Partner believes that application of these assumptions and
conventions will be consistent with the intent of the
partnership provisions of the Code, and that the resulting
allocations will have substantial economic effect or otherwise
will be respected as being in accordance with unitholders’
interests in USOF for federal income tax purposes. However, the
Code and Treasury Regulations do not expressly permit adoption
of these assumptions and conventions, and Sutherland
Asbill & Brennan LLP is therefore unable to opine on
the validity of our allocation method. It is possible that the
IRS could successfully challenge this method and require a
unitholder to report a greater or lesser share of items of
income, gain, loss, deduction, or credit than if our method were
respected. The General Partner is authorized to revise our
allocation method to conform to any method permitted under
future Treasury Regulations.
The assumptions and conventions used in making tax allocations
may cause a unitholder to be allocated more or less income or
loss for federal income tax purposes than its proportionate
share of the economic income or loss realized by USOF during the
period it held its units. This “mismatch” between
taxable and economic income or loss in some cases may be
temporary, reversing itself in a later year when the units are
sold, but could be permanent. For example, a unitholder could be
allocated income accruing before it purchased its units,
resulting in an increase in the basis of the units (see
“Tax basis in units”, below). On a subsequent
disposition of the units, the additional basis might produce a
capital loss the deduction of which may be limited (see
“Limitations on Deductibility of Losses and Certain
Expenses”, below).
Mark to market of certain exchange-traded contracts. For
federal income tax purposes, USOF generally will be 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 USOF at
the end of each taxable year, including for example Oil Futures
Contracts and options on Oil Futures
Contracts traded on a
U.S. exchange or board of trade or certain foreign
exchanges, will be treated as if they were sold by USOF for
their fair market value on the last business day of the taxable
year. A unitholder’s distributive share of USOF’s net
gain or loss with respect to each section 1256
contract
generally will be treated as long-term capital gain or loss to
the extent of 60 percent thereof, and as short-term capital
gain or loss to the extent of 40 percent thereof, without
regard to the actual holding period.
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 USOF, including but not limited to those described
below.
A unitholder’s deduction of its allocable share of any loss
of USOF will be limited to the lesser of (1) the tax basis
in its units or (2) in the case of a unitholder that is an
individual or a closely held corporation, the amount which the
unitholder is considered to have “at risk” with
respect to our activities. In general, the amount at risk will
be your invested capital plus your share of any recourse debt of
USOF for which you are liable. Losses in excess of the amount at
risk must be deferred until years in which
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USOF 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 losses 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.
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 deductible
only to the extent they exceed 2 percent of the
taxpayer’s adjusted gross income for the year. Although the
matter is not free from doubt, we believe management fees we pay
to the General Partner and other expenses we incur will
constitute investment-related expenses subject to the
miscellaneous itemized deduction limitation, rather than
expenses incurred in connection with a trade or business.
Noncorporate unitholders generally may deduct “investment
interest expense” only to the extent of their “net
investment income.” Investment interest expense of a
unitholder will generally include any interest accrued by USOF
and any interest paid or accrued on direct borrowings by a
unitholder to purchase or carry its units, 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 we allocate losses or expenses to you that
must be deferred or disallowed as a result of these or other
limitations in the Code, you may be taxed on income in excess of
your economic income or distributions (if any) on your units. As
one example, you could be allocated and required to pay tax on
your share of interest income accrued by USOF for a particular
taxable year, and in the same year 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 units. Unitholders are urged to consult their own
professional tax advisors regarding the effect of limitations
under the Code on your ability to deduct your allocable share of
USOF’s losses and expenses.
Tax basis of units.
A unitholder’s tax basis in its units is important in
determining (1) the amount of taxable gain it will realize
on the sale or other disposition of its units, (2) the
amount of non-taxable distributions that it may receive from
USOF and (3) its ability to utilize its distributive share
of any losses of USOF on its tax return. A unitholder’s
initial tax basis of its units will equal its cost for the units
plus its share of USOF’s liabilities (if any) at the time
of purchase. In general, a unitholder’s “share”
of those liabilities will equal the sum of (i) the entire
amount of any otherwise nonrecourse liability of USOF as to
which the unitholder or an affiliate is the creditor (a
“partner nonrecourse liability”) and (ii) a
pro rata share of any nonrecourse liabilities of USOF
that are not partner nonrecourse liabilities as to any
unitholder.
A unitholder’s tax basis in its units generally will be
(1) increased by (a) its allocable share of
USOF’s taxable income and gain and (b) any additional
contributions by the unitholder to USOF and (2) decreased
(but not below zero) by (a) its allocable share of
USOF’s tax deductions and losses and (b) any
distributions by USOF to the unitholder. For this purpose, an
increase in a unitholder’s share of USOF’s liabilities
will be treated as a contribution of cash by the unitholder to
USOF and a decrease in that share will be treated as a
distribution of cash by USOF to the unitholder. Pursuant to
certain IRS rulings, a unitholder will be required to maintain a
single, “unified” basis in all units that it owns. As a
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result, when a unitholder that acquired its units at different
prices sells less than all of its units, such unitholder will
not be entitled to specify particular units (e.g., those
with a higher 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 basis in its units to the units sold.
Treatment of Fund Distributions. If USOF makes
non-liquidating distributions to unitholders, such distributions
generally will not be taxable to the unitholders for federal
income tax purposes except to the extent that the sum of
(i) the amount of cash and (ii) the fair market value
of marketable securities distributed exceeds the
unitholder’s adjusted basis of its interest in USOF
immediately before the distribution. Any cash distributions in
excess of a unitholder’s tax basis generally will be
treated as gain from the sale or exchange of units.
Constructive termination of the partnership. We will be
considered to have been terminated for tax purposes if there is
a sale or exchange of 50 percent or more of the total
interests in our units within a
12-month period. A
termination would result in the closing of our taxable year for
all unitholders. In the case of a unitholder reporting on a
taxable year other than a fiscal year ending December 31,
the closing of our taxable year may result in more than
12 months of our taxable income or loss being includable in
its taxable income for the year of termination. We would be
required to make new tax elections after a termination. A
termination could result in tax penalties if we were unable to
determine that the termination had occurred. Moreover, a
termination might either accelerate the application of, or
subject us to, any tax legislation enacted before the
termination.
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Tax Consequences of Disposition Of Units |
If a unitholder sells it units, it will recognize gain or loss
equal to the difference between the amount realized and its
adjusted tax basis for the units sold. A unitholder’s
amount realized will be the sum of the cash or the fair market
value of other property received plus its share of any USOF debt
outstanding.
Gain or loss recognized by a unitholder on the sale or exchange
of units 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 Treasury Regulations
that will allow unitholders to identify and use the actual
holding periods for the units sold for purposes of determining
whether the gain or loss recognized on a sale of units will give
rise long-term or short-term capital gain or loss. It is
expected that most unitholders will be eligible to elect, and
generally will elect, to identify and use the actual holding
period for units sold. If a unitholder fails to make the
election or is not able to identify the holding periods of the
units sold, the unitholder will have a split holding period in
the units sold. Under such circumstances, a unitholder will be
required to determine its holding period in the units sold by
first determining the portion of its entire interest in USOF
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 unitholder would then treat each unit 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 USOF.
Under Section 751 of the Code, a portion of a
unitholder’s gain or loss from the sale of units
(regardless of the holding period for such units), will be
separately computed and taxed as ordinary income or loss to the
extent attributable to “unrealized receivables” or
“inventory” owned by USOF. 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 USOF.
If some or all of your units 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
units, in which case —
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you may recognize taxable gain or loss to the same extent as if
you had sold the units for cash; |
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any of USOF’s income, gain, loss or deduction allocable to
those units during the period of the loan will not be reportable
by you for tax purposes; and |
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any distributions you receive with respect to the units will be
fully taxable, most likely as ordinary income. |
Unitholders desiring to avoid these and other possible
consequences of a deemed disposition of their units should
consider modifying any applicable brokerage account agreements
to prohibit the lending of their units.
Information reporting. We intend to report tax
information to the beneficial owners of units. Unitholders who
have become additional limited partners will be treated as
partners for federal income tax purposes. 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 partners for federal income tax
purposes. On the basis of such ruling, except as otherwise
provided herein, we intend to treat the following persons as
partners for federal income tax purposes: (1) assignees of
units who are pending admission as limited partners, and
(2) unitholders whose units are held in street name or by
another nominee and who have the right to direct the nominee in
the exercise of all substantive rights attendant to the
ownership of their units. USOF will furnish unitholders each
year with tax information on IRS
Schedule K-1
(Form 1065), which will be used by the unitholders in
completing their tax returns.
Persons who hold an interest in USOF 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 units
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 units they
acquire, hold or transfer for their own account. A penalty of
$50 per failure, up to a maximum of $100,000 per
calendar year, is imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
as amended for failure to report such information to us. The
nominee is required to supply the beneficial owner of the units
with the information furnished to us.
Partnership Audit Procedures. The IRS may audit the
federal income tax returns filed by USOF. Adjustments resulting
from any such audit may require each unitholder to adjust a
prior year’s tax liability and could result in an audit of
the unitholder’s own return. Any audit of a
unitholder’s return could result in adjustments of
non-partnership items as well as USOF items. Partnerships are
generally treated as separate entities for purposes of federal
tax audits, judicial review of administrative adjustments by the
IRS, and tax settlement proceedings. The tax treatment of
partnership items of income, gain, loss and deduction are
determined at the partnership level in a unified partnership
proceeding rather than in separate proceedings with the
unitholders. The Code provides for one unitholder to be
designated as the “tax matters partner” and represent
the partnership purposes of these proceedings. The LP Agreement
appoints the General Partner as the tax matters partner of USOF.
Tax shelter disclosure rules. In certain circumstances
the Code and Treasury Regulations require that the IRS be
notified of taxable transactions through a disclosure statement
attached to a taxpayer’s United States federal income tax
return. In addition, certain “material advisers” must
maintain a list of persons participating in such transactions
and furnish the list to the IRS upon written request. These
disclosure rules may apply to transactions irrespective of
whether they are structured to achieve particular tax benefits.
They could require disclosure by USOF or unitholders (1) if
a unitholder incurs a loss in excess a specified threshold from
a sale or redemption of its units, (2) if USOF engages in
transactions producing differences between its taxable income
and its income for financial reporting purposes, or
(3) 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 a basis equal to the
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amount of cash paid by the taxpayer for such asset), they apply
to a loss recognized with respect to interests in a passthrough
entity, such as the units, even if the taxpayer’s basis in
such interests is equal to the amount of cash it paid. In
addition, under recently enacted legislation, significant
penalties may be imposed in connection with a failure to comply
with these reporting requirements. Investors should consult
their own tax advisors concerning the application of these
reporting requirements to their specific situation.
Tax-exempt organizations. Subject to numerous exceptions,
qualified retirement plans and individual retirement accounts,
charitable organizations and certain other organizations that
otherwise are exempt from federal income tax (collectively
“exempt organizations”) nonetheless are subject to the
tax on unrelated business taxable income (“UBTI”).
Generally, UBTI means the gross income derived by an exempt
organization from a trade or business that it regularly carries
on, the conduct of which is not substantially related to the
exercise or performance of its exempt purpose or function, less
allowable deductions directly connected with that trade or
business. If USOF were to regularly carry on (directly or
indirectly) a trade or business that is unrelated with respect
to an exempt organization unitholder, then in computing its
UBTI, the unitholder must include its share of
(l) USOF’s gross income from the unrelated trade or
business, whether or not distributed, and (2) USOF’s
allowable deductions directly connected with that gross income.
UBTI generally does not include dividends, interest, or payments
with respect to securities loans and gains from the sale of
property (other than property held for sale to customers in the
ordinary course of a trade or business). Nonetheless, income on,
and gain from the disposition of, “debt-financed
property” is UBTI. Debt-financed property generally is
income-producing property (including securities), the use of
which is not substantially related to the exempt
organization’s tax-exempt purposes, and with respect to
which there is “acquisition indebtedness” at any time
during the taxable year (or, if the property was disposed of
during the taxable year, the
12-month period ending
with the disposition). Acquisition indebtedness includes debt
incurred to acquire property, debt incurred before the
acquisition of property if the debt would not have been incurred
but for the acquisition, and debt incurred subsequent to the
acquisition of property if the debt would not have been incurred
but for the acquisition and at the time of acquisition the
incurrence of debt was foreseeable. The portion of the income
from debt-financed property attributable to acquisition
indebtedness is equal to the ratio of the average outstanding
principal amount of acquisition indebtedness over the average
adjusted basis of the property for the year. USOF currently does
not anticipate that it will borrow money to acquire investments;
however, USOF cannot be certain that it will not borrow for such
purpose in the future. In addition, an exempt organization
unitholder that incurs acquisition indebtedness to purchase its
units in USOF may have UBTI.
The federal tax rate applicable to an exempt organization
unitholder on its UBTI generally will be either the corporate or
trust tax rate, depending upon the unitholder’s form of
organization. USOF may report to each such unitholder
information as to the portion, if any, of the unitholder’s
income and gains from USOF for any year that will be treated as
UBTI; the calculation of that amount is complex, and there can
be no assurance that USOF’s calculation of UBTI will be
accepted by the Service. An exempt organization unitholder will
be required to make payments of estimated federal income tax
with respect to its UBTI.
Regulated investment companies. Under recently enacted
legislation, 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 USOF is a qualified publicly
traded partnership is made on an annual basis. USOF expects to
be a qualified publicly traded partnership in each of its
taxable years. However, such qualification is not assured.
Generally, non-U.S.
persons who derive U.S. source income or gain from investing or
engaging in a U.S. business are taxable on two categories
of income. The first category consists of amounts that are
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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 30 percent
withholding tax, which may be reduced for certain categories of
income by a treaty between the U.S. 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. Where a
non-U.S. person has ECI
as a result of an investment in a partnership, the ECI is
subject to a withholding tax at a rate of 35 percent for
both individual and corporate unitholders.
Withholding on Allocations and Distributions. The Code
provides that a
non-U.S. person
who is a partner in a partnership that is engaged in a U.S.
trade or business during a taxable year will also be considered
to be engaged in 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 a
U.S. trade or business unless it is a dealer is such stocks,
securities, or commodities. This safe harbor applies to
investments in commodities only if the commodities are of a kind
customarily dealt in 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, USOF believes
that the activities directly conducted by USOF will not result
in USOF being engaged in a trade or business within in the
United States. However, there can be no assurance that the IRS
would not successfully assert that USOF’s activities
constitute a U.S. trade or business.
In the event that USOF’s activities were considered to
constitute a U.S. trade or business, USOF would be required to
withhold at the highest rate specified in Code section 1
(currently 35 percent) on allocations of our income to
non-U.S. unitholders. A
non-U.S. unitholder
with ECI will generally be required to file a U.S. federal
income tax return, and the return will provide the
non-U.S. unitholder
with the mechanism to seek a refund of any withholding in excess
of such unitholder’s actual U.S. federal income tax
liability. Any amount withheld by USOF will be treated as a
distribution to the
non-U.S. unitholder.
If USOF is not treated as engaged in a U.S. trade or business, a
non-U.S. unitholder may
nevertheless be treated as having FDAP income, which would be
subject to a 30 percent withholding tax (possibly subject
to reduction by treaty), with respect to some or all of its
distributions from USOF or its allocable share of USOF income.
Amounts withheld on behalf of a
non-U.S. unitholder
will be treated as being distributed to such unitholder.
To the extent any interest income allocated to a
non-U.S. unitholder
that otherwise constitutes FDAP is considered “portfolio
interest,” neither the allocation of such interest income
to the non-U.S.
unitholder nor a subsequent distribution of such interest income
to the non-U.S.
unitholder will be subject to withholding, provided that the
non-U.S. unitholder is
not otherwise engaged in a trade or business in the U.S. and
provides USOF with a timely and properly completed and executed
IRS Form W-8BEN or
other applicable form. In general, “portfolio
interest” is interest paid on debt obligations issued in
registered form, unless the “recipient” owns
10 percent or more of the voting power of the issuer.
USOF expects that most of its interest income will qualify as
“portfolio interest.” In order for USOF to avoid
withholding on any interest income allocable to
non-U.S. unitholders that would qualify as “portfolio
interest,” it will be necessary for all
non-U.S. unitholders
to provide USOF with a timely and properly completed and
executed Form W-8BEN (or other applicable form). If a
non-U.S. unitholder
fails to provide a properly completed Form W-8BEN, the
General Partner may request that the
non-U.S. unitholder
provide, within 15 days after the request by the General
Partner, a properly completed Form W-8BEN. If a
non-U.S. unitholder
fails to comply with this request, the units owned by such
non-U.S. unitholder
will be subject to redemption.
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Gain from sale of units. Gain from the sale or exchange
of the units may be taxable to a
non-U.S. unitholder if
the non-U.S. unitholder
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 a
30 percent withholding tax on the amount of such
individual’s gain.
Branch profits tax on corporate
non-U.S. unitholders.
In addition to the taxes noted above, any
non-U.S. unitholders
that are corporations 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
non-U.S. corporation’s
dividend equivalent amount, which generally consists of the
corporation’s after-tax earnings and profits that are
effectively connected with the corporation’s
U.S. trade or business but are not reinvested in a
U.S. 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. unitholder
is a “qualified resident.”
Prospective
non-U.S. unitholders
should consult their tax advisor with regard to these and other
issues unique to
non-U.S. unitholders.
Backup Withholding
USOF may be required to withhold U.S. federal income tax
(“backup withholding”) at a rate of 28 percent
from all taxable distributions payable to: (1) any
unitholder who fails to furnish USOF with his, her or its
correct taxpayer identification number or a certificate that the
unitholder is exempt from backup withholding, and (2) any
unitholder with respect to whom the IRS notifies USOF that the
unitholder has failed to properly report certain interest and
dividend income to the IRS and to respond to notices to that
effect. Backup withholding is not an additional tax and may be
returned or credited against a taxpayer’s regular federal
income tax liability if appropriate information is provided to
the IRS.
Other Tax Considerations
In addition to federal income taxes, unitholders 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 USOF does business or owns
property or where the unitholders reside. Although an analysis
of those various taxes is not presented here, each prospective
unitholder should consider their potential impact on its
investment in USOF. It is each unitholder’s responsibility
to file the appropriate U.S. federal, state, local, and foreign
tax returns. Sutherland Asbill & Brennan 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.
Investment By ERISA Accounts
General
Most employee benefit plans and individual retirement accounts
(“IRAs”) are subject to the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) or the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the
“Code”), or both. This section discusses certain
considerations that arise under ERISA and the Code that a
fiduciary of an employee benefit plan as defined in ERISA or a
plan as defined in Section 4975 of the Code who has
investment discretion should take into account before deciding
to invest the plan’s assets in USOF. Employee benefit plans
and plans 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 and the Code as
of the date hereof. This summary is not intended to be complete,
but only to address certain questions under ERISA and the Code
likely to be raised by your advisors. 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 USOF and the manner in which units should be
purchased.
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Special Investment Considerations
Each plan fiduciary must consider the facts and circumstances
that are relevant to an investment in USOF, including the role
that an i