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United States Oil Fund, LP
United States Oil Fund (USO) is a commodity exchange-traded product tracking WTI crude oil futures, managed by USCF Investments.
United States Oil Fund, LP
United States Oil Fund, LP was launched in 2006 by USCF Investments, a firm focused on commodity-based exchange-traded products. The fund is structured as a limited partnership whose shares trade on NYSE Arca under ticker USO, designed to track the daily percentage change in the price of West Texas Intermediate light sweet crude oil futures traded on NYMEX. Strategy & deployment: USO holds only near-month crude oil futures contracts, rolling its positions toward the end of each month to avoid physical delivery. This creates a known cost drag in contango markets but can benefit from backwardation. The fund does not deploy capital into companies, infrastructure, or direct energy assets — it is purely a futures-based commodity ETP. Geographic exposure is solely to NYMEX-traded WTI benchmarks, centered on Cushing, Oklahoma delivery points, per the fund's prospectus. Scale, team, adjacent vehicles: As of May 2024, USO reported about $1.2B in net assets, per USCF filings. The fund is one of several commodity ETPs managed by USCF, which also runs the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) and United States Brent Oil Fund (BNO). USCF maintains a small Houston-based team, but USO itself has no employees — operational management is outsourced to USCF as the commodity pool operator and Brown Brothers Harriman as administrator. Recent activity: April 2024: USCF modified USO's prospectus to clarify the fund's ability to invest in Brent-linked futures alongside WTI (per SEC filing, April 2024). Structural differentiator: Unlike most family offices or asset managers in the Altss database, USO is a passive, legally mandated commodity pool that cannot exercise discretion over investment strategy beyond mechanical index tracking. Its governance separates the fund's board (which includes independent trustees who oversee the product's compliance with its mandate) from the trading execution by USCF. This structure exists purely to provide oil price exposure in an exchange-traded wrapper.
General information
Firm type
Commodity Pool / Exchange-Traded Product
Year founded
2006
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Houston
Corporate office
Houston, TX, United States
Principals
John Love
President & CEO of USCF Investments (parent)
Andrew Ng
CFO & Treasurer of USCF Investments
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who manages the United States Oil Fund, LP?
USO is managed by USCF Investments, a commodity pool operator based in Houston. John Love serves as President & CEO of USCF, which oversees day-to-day trading and compliance. The fund itself is governed by a board of trustees that includes independent members, per the fund's prospectus.
How is USO's AUM determined, and why does it fluctuate?
USO's net assets vary directly with the price of crude oil and investor inflows or redemptions. At peak in 2008, the fund held over $3B in assets; as of May 2024, net assets stood at roughly $1.2B (per USCF SEC filings). The fund does not disclose a fixed AUM since holdings are tied to the daily settlement of futures contracts.
Does USO invest in oil companies or infrastructure?
No. USO holds only near-month crude oil futures contracts and cash equivalents. It does not own physical oil, equity stakes in energy companies, or pipeline infrastructure. Its mandate is to track the daily percentage change of West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures on NYMEX.
What are the known risks of holding USO long-term?
The main structural risk is contango decay: when futures prices are higher for later months, the fund loses value by selling cheap expiring contracts and buying more expensive ones each month. In backwardated markets the effect can be positive. The fund's prospectus warns that long-term returns may diverge significantly from spot oil prices. Rolling costs and expense ratios (currently 0.79%) further erode returns.
Is USO regulated as a pooled investment vehicle?
Yes. USO is a commodity pool registered with the CFTC and its operator, USCF Investments, is a registered commodity pool operator. The fund files periodic reports with the SEC. Its shares trade like a conventional ETF but are structurally a limited partnership, which triggers annual K-1 tax forms for investors.
Can institutional investors meet directly with USO's management?
USO has no dedicated investor relations team; all inquiries route through USCF Investments. The fund's board includes independent trustees who oversee product compliance, but investment decisions are mechanical and nondiscretionary. Large institutional holders are disclosed in 13F filings.
How does USO relate to USCF's other commodity ETPs?
USCF runs a family of commodity ETPs including United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG), United States Brent Oil Fund (BNO), and several sector-specific funds. Each is a separate legal entity but shares the same operator, trading desk, and administrative infrastructure. The funds do not co-mingle assets.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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