UNL filing — read by section

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Item 1A. Risk Factors. 
 The following risk factors should be read in connection with the other information included in this annual report on Form 10-K, including Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and UNL’s financial statements and the related notes. 
 UNL’s investment objective is for the daily percentage changes in the NAV per share to reflect the daily percentage changes of the spot price of natural gas delivered at the Henry Hub, Louisiana as measured by the daily percentage changes in the price of the average of the prices of 12 futures contracts on natural gas traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (the “NYMEX”), consisting of the near month contract to expire and the contracts for the following 11 months, for a total of 12 consecutive months’ contracts, except when the near month contract is within two weeks of expiration, in which case it will be measured by the futures contract that is the next month contract to expire and the contracts for the following 11 consecutive months (the “Benchmark Futures Contracts”), plus interest earned on UNL’s collateral holdings, less UNL’s expenses. UNL seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing so that the average daily percentage change in UNL’s NAV for any period of 30 successive valuation days will be within plus/minus ten percent (10%) of the average daily percentage change in the price of the Benchmark Futures Contracts over the same period.
 UNL’s investment strategy is designed to provide investors with a means of investing indirectly in natural gas and to hedge against movements in the spot price of natural gas. An investment in UNL involves investment risk similar to a direct investment in Natural Gas Interests. An investment in UNL also involves investment risk similar to a direct investment in Futures Contracts and Other Natural Gas-Related Investments, and correlation risk, or the risk that investors purchasing shares to hedge against movements in the price of natural gas will have an efficient hedge only if the price they pay for their shares closely correlates with the price of natural gas. In addition to investment risk and correlation risk, an investment UNL involves tax risks, OTC and other risks.
 Investment Risk 
 The daily changes in percentage terms of UNL’s shares per share NAV relates directly to daily changes in the average of the prices of the price Benchmark Futures Contracts and other assets held by UNL and fluctuations in the prices of these assets could materially adversely affect an investment in UNL’s shares. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of futures results; all or substantially all of an investment in UNL could be lost. 
 The net assets of UNL consist primarily of investments in Futures Contracts and, to a lesser extent, in Other Natural Gas-Related Investments. The NAV of UNL’s shares relates directly to the value of these assets (less liabilities, including accrued but unpaid expenses), which in turn relates to the price of natural gas in the marketplace. Natural gas prices depend on local, regional and global events or conditions that affect supply and demand for natural gas.
 Economic conditions impacting natural gas. The demand for natural gas correlates closely with general economic growth rates. The occurrence of recessions or other periods of low or negative economic growth will typically have a direct adverse impact on natural gas demand and therefore may have an adverse impact on natural gas prices. Other factors that affect general economic conditions in the world or in a major region, such as changes in population growth rates, periods of civil unrest, pandemics, (e.g. COVID-19) government austerity programs, or currency exchange rate fluctuations, can also impact the demand for natural gas. Sovereign debt downgrades, defaults, inability to access debt markets due to credit or legal constraints, liquidity crises, the breakup or restructuring of fiscal, monetary, or political systems such as the European Union, and other events or conditions (e.g., pandemics such as COVID-19) that impair the functioning of financial markets and institutions also may adversely impact the demand for natural gas.
 Other natural gas demand-related factors. Other factors that may affect the demand for natural gas and therefore its price, include technological improvements in energy efficiency; seasonal weather patterns, which affect the demand for natural gas associated with heating; increased competitiveness of alternative energy sources that have so far generally not been competitive with natural gas without the benefit of government subsidies or mandates; and changes in technology or consumer preferences that alter fuel choices, such as toward alternative fueled or electric transportation and broad-based changes in personal income level.

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 Other natural gas supply-related factors. Natural gas prices also vary depending on a number of factors affecting supply. For example, increased supply from the development of new natural gas sources and technologies to enhance recovery from existing sources tends to reduce natural gas prices to the extent such supply increases are not offset by commensurate growth in demand. Similarly, increases in industry refining or manufacturing capacity may impact the supply of natural gas. Natural gas supply levels can also be affected by factors that reduce available supplies, such natural disasters, disruptions in competitors’ operations, or unexpected unavailability of distribution channels that may disrupt supplies. Technological change can also alter the relative costs for companies in the natural gas industry to find, produce, and transport natural gas, which in turn, may affect the supply of and demand for natural gas . 
 Other factors impacting the natural gas market. The supply of and demand for natural gas may also be impacted by changes in interest rates, inflation, and other local or regional market conditions, as well as by the development of alternative energy sources.
 Price Volatility May Possibly Cause the Total Loss of Your Investment. Futures contracts have a high degree of price variability and are subject to occasional rapid and substantial changes. Consequently, you could lose all or substantially all of your investment in UNL.
 COVID-19 and other infectious disease outbreak could negatively affect the valuation and performance of UNL’s investments. 
 An outbreak of infectious respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 was first detected in China in December 2019 and spread globally. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. COVID-19 has resulted in numerous deaths, travel restrictions, closed international borders, enhanced health screenings at ports of entry and elsewhere, disruption of and delays in healthcare service preparation and delivery, prolonged quarantines and the imposition of both local and more widespread “work from home” measures, cancellations, loss of employment, supply chain disruptions, and lower consumer and institutional demand for goods and services, as well as general concern and uncertainty. The ongoing spread of COVID-19 has had, and is expected to continue to have, a material adverse impact on local economies in the affected jurisdictions and also on the global economy, as cross border commercial activity and market sentiment are impacted by the outbreak and government and other measures seeking to contain its spread. The impact of COVID-19, and other infectious disease outbreaks that may arise in the future, could adversely affect individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen. In addition, actions taken by government and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including significant fiscal and monetary policy changes, may affect the value, volatility, pricing and liquidity of some investments or other assets, including those held by or invested in by UNL. Public health crises caused by the COVID-19 outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally. The duration of the COVID-19 outbreak and its ultimate impact on UNL and, on the global economy, cannot be determined with certainty. The COVID-19 pandemic and its effects may last for an extended period of time, and could result in significant and continued market volatility, exchange trading suspensions and closures, declines in global financial markets, higher default rates, and a substantial economic downturn or recession. The foregoing could impair UNL’s ability to maintain operational standards (such as with respect to satisfying redemption requests), disrupt the operations of UNL’s service providers, adversely affect the value and liquidity of UNL’s investments, and negatively impact UNL’s performance and your investment in UNL. The extent to which COVID-19 continues to affect UNL and UNL’s service providers and portfolio investments will depend on future developments. There continues to be uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic as the Delta variant of COVID-19, which appears to be the most transmissible and contagious variant to date, has caused an increase in COVID-19 cases globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business will depend on factors such as the length of time of the pandemic; how federal, state and local governments are responding, the impact of the Delta variant, the Omicron variant, and other variants that may emerge; vaccination rates among the population; the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines against the Delta variant, Omicron variant, and other variants that may emerge; and the longer-term impact of the pandemic on the economy and consumer behavior. Given the significant economic and financial market disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the valuation and performance of UNL’s investments could be impacted adversely.
 An investment in UNL may provide little or no diversification benefits. Thus, in a declining market, UNL may have no gains to offset losses from other investments, and an investor may suffer losses on an investment in UNL while incurring losses with respect to other asset classes. 
 Historically, Futures Contracts and Other Natural Gas-Related Investments have generally been non-correlated to the performance of other asset classes such as stocks and bonds. Non-correlation means that there is a low statistically valid relationship between the performance of futures and other commodity interest transactions, on the one hand, and stocks or bonds, on the other hand.

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 However, there can be no assurance that such non-correlation will continue during future periods. If, contrary to historic patterns, UNL’s performance were to move in the same general direction as the financial markets, investors will obtain little or no diversification benefits from an investment in UNL’s shares. In such a case, UNL may have no gains to offset losses from other investments, and investors may suffer losses on their investment in UNL at the same time they incur losses with respect to other investments.
 Variables such as drought, floods, weather, pandemics (such as COVID-19) embargoes, tariffs and other political events may have a larger impact on natural gas prices and natural gas-linked instruments, including Futures Contracts and Other Natural Gas-Related Investments, than on traditional securities. These additional variables may create additional investment risks that subject UNL’s investments to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities.
 Non-correlation should not be confused with negative correlation, where the performance of two asset classes would be opposite of each other. There is no historical evidence that the spot price of natural gas and prices of other financial assets, such as stocks and bonds, are negatively correlated. In the absence of negative correlation, UNL cannot be expected to be automatically profitable during unfavorable periods for the stock market, or vice versa.
 Historical performance of UNL and the Benchmark Futures Contracts is not indicative of future performance. 
 Past performance of UNL or the Benchmark Futures Contract is not necessarily indicative of future results. Therefore, past performance of UNL or the Benchmark Futures Contract should not be relied upon in deciding whether to buy shares of UNL.
 Correlation Risk 
 Investors purchasing shares to hedge against movements in the price of natural gas will have an efficient hedge only if the price investors pay for their shares closely correlates with the price of natural gas. Investing in UNL’s shares for hedging purposes involves the following risks:
 ● The market price at which the investor buys or sells shares may be significantly less or more than NAV. 

 ● Daily percentage changes in NAV may not closely correlate with daily percentage changes in the average of the prices of the Benchmark Futures Contracts. 

 ● Daily percentage changes in the average of the prices of the Benchmark Futures Contracts may not closely correlate with daily percentage changes in the price natural gas. 

 ​ 
 As of the date of this annual report on Form 10-K, significant market volatility has occurred in the oil markets and the oil futures markets. Such volatility is attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, related supply chain disruptions and continuing disputes among oil-producing countries. Although the volatility has abated in recent months, future volatility cannot be predicted. Volatility in the natural gas market was also elevated, but it did not reach the same extreme levels as the volatility in the oil futures market did. However, the COVID-19 pandemic could cause increased volatility in the future, the impact of which could limit UNL’s ability to have a substantial portion of its assets invested in the Benchmark Futures Contracts. In such a circumstance, UNL could, if it determined it appropriate to do so in light of market conditions and regulatory requirements, invest in other Futures Contract and/or Other Natural Gas-Related Investments.
 The market price at which investors buy or sell shares may be significantly less or more than NAV. 
 UNL’s NAV per share will change throughout the day as fluctuations occur in the market value of UNL’s portfolio investments. The public trading price at which an investor buys or sells shares during the day from their broker may be different from the NAV of the shares, which is also the price shares can be redeemed with UNL by Authorized Participants in Redemption Baskets. Generally, price differences may relate primarily to supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares that are closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of natural gas and the Benchmark Futures Contracts at any point in time. USCF expects that exploitation of certain arbitrage opportunities by Authorized Participants and their clients will tend to cause the public trading price to track NAV per share closely over time, but there can be no assurance of that. For example, a shortage of UNL shares in the market and other factors could cause UNL’s shares to trade at a premium. Investors should be aware that such premiums can be transitory. To the extent an investor purchases shares that include a premium (e.g., because of a shortage of shares in the market due to the inability of Authorized Participants to purchase additional shares from UNL that could be resold into the market) and the 

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 cause of the premium no longer exists causing the premium to disappear (e.g., because more shares are available for purchase from UNL by Authorized Participants that could be resold into the market) such investor’s return on its investment would be adversely impacted due to the loss of the premium. See the risk factor, An unanticipated number of Creation Basket requests during a short period of time could result in a shortage of shares , below.
 The NAV of UNL’s shares may also be influenced by non-concurrent trading hours between the NYSE Arca and the various futures exchanges on which natural gas is traded. While the shares trade on the NYSE Arca from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the trading hours for the futures exchanges on which natural gas trades may not necessarily coincide during all of this time. For example, while the shares trade on the NYSE Arca until 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, liquidity in the global natural gas market will be reduced after the close of the NYMEX at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. As a result, during periods when the NYSE Arca is open and the futures exchanges on which natural gas is traded are closed, trading spreads and the resulting premium or discount on the shares may widen and, therefore, increase the difference between the price of the shares and the NAV of the shares.
 Daily percentage changes in UNL’s NAV may not correlate with daily percentage changes in the average of the prices of the Benchmark Futures Contracts .
 It is possible that the daily percentage changes in UNL’s NAV per share may not closely correlate to daily percentage changes in the average of the prices of the Benchmark Futures Contracts. Non- correlation may be attributable to disruptions in the market for natural gas, the imposition of position or accountability limits by regulators or exchanges, or other extraordinary circumstances. As UNL approaches or reaches position limits with respect to the Benchmark Futures Contracts and other Futures Contracts or in view of market conditions, UNL may begin investing in Other Natural Gas-Related Investments.
 In addition, UNL is not able to replicate exactly the changes in the price of the Benchmark Futures Contracts because the total return generated by UNL is reduced by expenses and transaction costs, including those incurred in connection with UNL’s trading activities, and increased by interest income from UNL’s holdings of Treasuries (defined below). Tracking the Benchmark Futures Contracts requires trading of UNL’s portfolio with a view to tracking the Benchmark Futures Contracts over time and is dependent upon the skills of USCF and its trading principals, among other factors.
 An investment in UNL is not a proxy for investing in the natural gas markets, and the daily percentage changes in the price of the Benchmark Futures Contracts , or the NAV of UNL , may not correlate with daily percentage changes in the spot price of natural gas . 
 An investment in UNL is not a proxy for investing in the natural gas markets. To the extent that investors use UNL as a means of indirectly investing in natural gas, there is the risk that the daily changes in the price of UNL’s shares on the NYSE Arca, on a percentage basis, will not closely track the daily changes in the spot price of natural gas on a percentage basis. This could happen if the price of shares traded on the NYSE Arca does not correlate closely with the value of UNL’s NAV; the changes in UNL’s NAV do not correlate closely with the changes in the price of the Benchmark Futures Contracts; or the changes in the price of the Benchmark Futures Contracts do not closely correlate with the changes in the cash or spot price of natural gas. This is a risk because if these correlations do not exist, then investors may not be able to use UNL as a cost-effective way to indirectly invest in natural gas or as a hedge against the risk of loss in natural gas-related transactions. The degree of correlation among UNL’s share price, the price of the Benchmark Futures Contracts and the spot price of natural gas depends upon circumstances such as variations in the speculative natural gas market, supply of and demand for Futures Contracts (including the Benchmark Futures Contracts) and Other Natural Gas-Related Investments, and technical influences on trading natural gas futures contracts. Investors who are not experienced in investing in natural gas futures contracts or the factors that influence that market or speculative trading in the natural gas markets and may not have the background or ready access to the types of information that investors familiar with these markets may have and, as a result, may be at greater risk of incurring losses from trading in UNL shares than such other investors with such experience and resources.
 Natural forces in the natural gas futures market known as “backwardation” and “contango” may increase UNL’s tracking error and/or negatively impact total return. 
 The design of UNL’s Benchmark Futures Contract consists of the near month contract to expire and the 11 following months, which are changed to the next month contract to expire and the 11 following months during one day each month. In the event of a natural gas futures market where near month contracts trade at a higher price than next month to expire contracts, a situation described as “backwardation” in the futures market, then absent the impact of the overall movement in natural gas prices the value of the Benchmark 

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 Futures Contracts would tend to rise as it approaches expiration. Conversely, in the event of a natural gas futures market where near month contracts trade at a lower price than next month contracts, a situation described as “contango” in the futures market, then absent the impact of the overall movement in natural gas prices the value of the benchmark contracts would tend to decline as it approaches expiration. When compared to total return of other price indices, such as the spot price of natural gas, the impact of backwardation and contango may cause the total return of UNL’s per share NAV to vary significantly. Moreover, absent the impact of rising or falling natural gas prices, a prolonged period of contango could have a significant negative impact on UNL’s per share NAV and total return and investors could lose part or all of their investment.
 While contango and backwardation are consistently present in trading in the futures markets, such conditions can be exacerbated by market forces. For example, extraordinary market conditions in the crude oil markets, including “super contango” (a higher level of contango arising from the overabundance of oil being produced and the limited availability of storage for such excess supply), occurred in the crude oil futures markets in April 2020 due to oversupply of crude oil in the face of weak demand during the COVID-19 pandemic when disputes among oil-producing countries regarding limitations on the production of oil also were occurring. This resulted in a negative price for the May 2020 futures contract on light, sweet crude oil as traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
 Volatility in the natural gas market was also elevated, but it did not reach the same extreme levels as the volatility in the oil futures market did. However, the COVID-19 pandemic could cause increased volatility in the future, the impact of which could limit UNL's ability to have a substantial portion of its assets invested in the Benchmark Futures Contract. In addition, it is possible that the Benchmark Futures Contract may experience periods of super contango negative prices in the future. In any such a circumstance, UNL could, if it determined it appropriate to do so in light of market conditions and regulatory requirements, invest in other Futures Contract and/or Other Natural-Gas Related Investments. See “Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this annual report on Form 10-K for a discussion of the potential effects of contango and backwardation.
 Accountability levels, position limits, and daily price fluctuation limits set by the exchanges have the potential to cause tracking error, by limiting UNL’s investments, including its ability to fully invest in the Benchmark Futures Contracts, which could cause the price of shares to substantially vary from the price of the Benchmark Futures Contracts. 
 Designated contract markets, such as the NYMEX, have established accountability levels and position limits on the maximum net long or net short futures contracts in commodity interests that any person or group of persons under common trading control (other than as a hedge, which an investment by UNL is not) may hold, own or control. These levels and position limits apply to the futures contracts that UNL invests in to meet its investment objective. In addition to accountability levels and position limits, the NYMEX also set daily price fluctuation limits on futures contracts. The daily price limit establishes the maximum amount that the price of a futures contract may vary either up or down from the previous day’s settlement price. Once the daily price fluctuation limit has been reached in a particular futures contract, no trades may be made at a price beyond that limit.
 The accountability levels for the Benchmark Futures Contracts and other Futures Contracts traded on U.S.-based futures exchanges, such as the NYMEX, are not a fixed ceiling, but rather a threshold above which the NYMEX may exercise greater scrutiny and control over an investor’s positions. The current accountability level for investments for any one-month in a Benchmark Futures Contract is 6,000 contracts. In addition, the NYMEX imposes an accountability level for all months of 12,000 net futures contracts for natural gas. In addition, the ICE Futures maintains the same accountability levels, position limits and monitoring authority for its natural gas contract as the NYMEX. If UNL and the Related Public Funds exceed these accountability levels for investments in the futures contracts for natural gas, the NYMEX and ICE Futures will monitor such exposure and may ask for further information on their activities, including the total size of all positions, investment and trading strategy, and the extent of liquidity resources of UNL and the Related Public Funds. If deemed necessary by the NYMEX and/or ICE Futures, UNL could be ordered to reduce its Natural Gas NG Futures Contracts to below the 6,000 single month and/or 12,000 all month accountability level. As of December 31, 2021, UNL held 273 Natural Gas NG Futures Contracts traded on the NYMEX and did not hold any Futures Contracts traded on ICE Futures. For the year ended December 31, 2021, UNL did not exceed accountability levels imposed by the NYMEX and ICE Futures, however, the aggregated total of the Related Public Funds did exceed the accountability levels.
 Position limits differ from accountability levels in that they represent fixed limits on the maximum number of futures contracts that any person may hold and cannot be exceeded without express CFTC authority to do so. In addition to accountability levels and position limits that may apply at any time, the NYMEX and the ICE Futures impose position limits on contracts held in the last few days of trading in the near month contract to expire. It is unlikely that UNL will run up against such position limits because UNL’s investment strategy is to close out its positions and “roll” from the near month contracts to expire to the next month contracts during a one day 

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 period beginning two weeks from expiration of the contracts. For the year ended December 31, 2021, UNL did not exceed any position limits imposed by the NYMEX and ICE Futures.
 On October 15, 2020, the CFTC approved the Position Limits Rule. The Position Limits Rule establishes federal position limits for 25 core referenced futures contracts (comprised of agricultural, energy and metals futures contracts), futures and options linked to the core referenced futures contracts, and swaps that are economically equivalent to the core referenced futures contracts.
 The Benchmark Futures Contract will be subject to position limits under the Position Limits Rule, and UNL’s trading does not qualify for an exemption therefrom. Accordingly, the Position Limits Rule could negatively impact the ability of UNL to meet its investment objective by inhibiting USCF’s ability to effectively invest the proceeds from sales of Creation Baskets of UNL in particular amounts and types of its permitted investments.
 Risk mitigation measures that could be imposed by UNL’s FCMs have the potential to cause tracking error by limiting UNL’s investments, including its ability to fully invest in the Benchmark Futures Contracts and other Futures Contracts, which could cause the price of UNL’s shares to substantially vary from the price of the Benchmark Futures Contracts. 
 UNL’s FCMs have discretion to impose limits on the positions that UNL may hold in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract as well as certain other months. To date, UNL’s FCMs have not imposed any such limits. However, were UNL’s FCMs to impose limits, UNL’s ability to have a substantial portion of its assets invested in the Benchmark Futures Contracts and other Futures Contracts could be severely limited, which could lead UNL to invest in other Futures Contracts or, potentially, Other Natural Gas-Related Investments. UNL could also have to more frequently rebalance and adjust the types of holdings in its portfolio than is currently the case. This could inhibit UNL from pursuing its investment objective in the same manner that it has historically and currently.
 In addition, when offering Creation Baskets for purchase, limitations imposed by exchanges and/or any of UNL’s FCMs could limit UNL’s ability to invest the proceeds of the purchases of Creation Baskets in Benchmark Futures Contracts and other Futures Contracts. If this were the case, UNL may invest in other permitted investments, including Other Natural Gas-Related Investments, and may hold larger amounts of Treasuries, cash and cash equivalents, which could impair UNL’s ability to meet its investment objective.
 Tax Risk 
 An investor’s tax liability may exceed the amount of distributions, if any, on its shares. 
 Cash or property will be distributed at the sole discretion of USCF. USCF has not and does not currently intend to make cash or other distributions with respect to shares. Investors will be required to pay U.S. federal income tax and, in some cases, state, local, or foreign income tax, on their allocable share of UNL’s taxable income, without regard to whether they receive distributions or the amount of any distributions. Therefore, the tax liability of an investor with respect to its shares may exceed the amount of cash or value of property (if any) distributed.
 An investor’s allocable share of taxable income or loss may differ from its economic income or loss on its shares. 
 Due to the application of the assumptions and conventions applied by UNL in making allocations for tax purposes and other factors, an investor’s allocable share of UNL’s income, gain, deduction or loss may be different than its economic profit or loss from its shares for a taxable year. This difference could be temporary or permanent and, if permanent, could result in it being taxed on amounts in excess of its economic income.
 Items of income, gain, deduction, loss and credit with respect to shares could be reallocated, and UNL could be liable for U.S. federal income tax, if the IRS does not accept the assumptions and conventions applied by UNL in allocating those items, with potential adverse consequences for an investor. 
 The U.S. tax rules pertaining to partnerships are complex and their application to large, publicly traded partnerships such as UNL is in many respects uncertain. UNL applies certain assumptions and conventions in an attempt to comply with the intent of the applicable rules and to report taxable income, gains, deductions, losses and credits in a manner that properly reflects shareholders’ economic gains and losses. These assumptions and conventions may not fully comply with all aspects of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) and 

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 applicable Treasury Regulations, however, and it is possible that the IRS will successfully challenge UNL’s allocation methods and require UNL to reallocate items of income, gain, deduction, loss or credit in a manner that adversely affects investors.
 UNL may be liable for U.S. federal income tax on any “imputed understatement” of tax resulting from an adjustment as a result of an IRS audit. The amount of the imputed understatement generally includes increases in allocations of items of income or gains to any investor and decreases in allocations of items of deduction, loss, or credit to any investor without any offset for any corresponding reductions in allocations of items of income or gain to any investor or increases in allocations of items of deduction, loss, or credit to any investor. If UNL is required to pay any U.S. federal income taxes on any imputed understatement, the resulting tax liability would reduce the net assets of UNL and would likely have an adverse impact on the value of the shares. Under certain circumstances, UNL may be eligible to make an election to cause the investors to take into account the amount of any imputed understatement, including any interest and penalties. The ability of a publicly traded partnership such as UNL to make this election is uncertain. If the election is made, UNL would be required to provide investors who owned beneficial interests in the shares in the year to which the adjusted allocations relate with a statement setting forth their proportionate shares of the adjustment (“Adjusted K-1s”). The investors would be required to take the adjustment into account in the taxable year in which the Adjusted K-1s are issued.
 UNL could be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, which may substantially reduce the value of the shares. 
 UNL has received an opinion of counsel that, under current U.S. federal income tax laws, UNL 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 UNL’s annual gross income will be derived from (a) income and gains from commodities (not held as inventory) or futures, forwards, options, swaps and other notional principal contracts with respect to commodities, and (b) interest income, (ii) UNL is organized and operated in accordance with its governing agreements and applicable law and (iii) UNL does not elect to be taxed as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Although USCF anticipates that UNL has satisfied and will continue to satisfy the “qualifying income” requirement for all of its taxable years, that result cannot be assured. UNL 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 U.S. federal income tax purposes. If the IRS were to successfully assert that UNL is taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes in any taxable year, rather than passing through its income, gains, losses and deductions proportionately to shareholders, UNL would be subject to tax on its net income for the year at corporate tax rates. In addition, although USCF does not currently intend to make distributions with respect to shares, any distributions would be taxable to shareholders as dividend income to the extent of UNL’s current and accumulated earnings and profits. Taxation of UNL as a corporation could materially reduce the after-tax return on an investment in shares and could substantially reduce the value of the shares.
 UNL is organized and operated as a limited partnership in accordance with the provisions of the LP Agreement and applicable state law, and therefore, UNL has a more complex tax treatment than traditional mutual funds. 
 UNL is organized and operated as a limited partnership in accordance with the provisions of the LP Agreement and applicable state law. No U.S. federal income tax is paid by UNL on its income. Instead, UNL will furnish shareholders each year with tax information on IRS Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) and each U.S. shareholder is required to report on its U.S. federal income tax return its allocable share of the income, gain, loss and deduction of UNL.
 This must be reported without regard to the amount (if any) of cash or property the shareholder receives as a distribution from UNL during the taxable year. A shareholder, therefore, may be allocated income or gain by UNL but receive no cash distribution with which to pay the tax liability resulting from the allocation, or may receive a distribution that is insufficient to pay such liability.
 In addition to U.S. federal income taxes, shareholders may be subject to other taxes, such as state and local income taxes, unincorporated business taxes, business franchise taxes and estate, inheritance or intangible taxes that may be imposed by the various jurisdictions in which UNL does business or owns property or where the shareholders reside. Although an analysis of those various taxes is not presented here, each prospective shareholder should consider their potential impact on its investment in UNL. It is each shareholder’s responsibility to file the appropriate U.S. federal, state, local and foreign tax returns.
 If UNL is required to withhold tax with respect to any Non-U.S. shareholders, the cost of such withholding may be borne by all shareholders. 
 Under certain circumstances, UNL may be required to pay withholding tax with respect to allocations to Non-U.S. shareholders. Although the LP Agreement provides that any such withholding will be treated as being distributed to the Non-U.S. shareholder, UNL 

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 may not be able to cause the economic cost of such withholding to be borne by the Non-U.S. shareholder on whose behalf such amounts were withheld since it does not generally expect to make any distributions. Under such circumstances, the economic cost of the withholding may be borne by all shareholders, not just the shareholders on whose behalf such amounts were withheld. This could have a material impact on the value of the shares.
 The impact of U.S. tax reform on UNL is uncertain. 
 Legislative or other actions relating to taxes could have a negative effect on UNL or our investors. The rules dealing with U.S. federal income taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department. The Biden Administration has proposed significant changes to the existing U.S. tax rules, and there are a number of proposals in Congress that would similarly modify the existing U.S. tax rules. The likelihood of any such legislation being enacted is uncertain, and we cannot predict with certainty how any changes in the tax laws might affect UNL, our investors or our investments. Investors are urged to consult with their tax advisor with respect to the status of legislative, regulatory or administrative developments and proposals and their potential effect on an investment in our securities.
 OTC Contract Risk 
 UNL will be subject to credit risk with respect to counterparties to OTC contracts entered into by UNL or held by special purpose or structured vehicles. 
 UNL faces the risk of non-performance by the counterparties to the OTC contracts. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to these contracts is generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a result, there will be greater counterparty credit risk in these transactions. A counterparty may not be able to meet its obligations to UNL, in which case UNL could suffer significant losses on these contracts. The two-way margining requirements imposed by U.S. regulators, discussed in “Item 1. Business – Commodities Regulation,” are intended to mitigate this risk.
 If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, UNL may experience significant delays in obtaining any recovery in a bankruptcy or other reorganization proceeding. UNL may obtain only limited recovery or may obtain no recovery in such circumstances.
 Valuing OTC derivatives may be less certain than actively traded financial instruments. 
 In general, valuing OTC derivatives is less certain than valuing actively traded financial instruments such as exchange traded futures contracts and securities or cleared swaps because, for OTC derivatives, the price and terms on which such OTC derivatives are entered into or can be terminated are individually negotiated, and those prices and terms may not reflect the best price or terms available from other sources. In addition, while market makers and dealers generally quote indicative prices or terms for entering into or terminating OTC contracts, they typically are not contractually obligated to do so, particularly if they are not a party to the transaction. As a result, it may be difficult to obtain an independent value for an outstanding OTC derivatives transaction.
 Other Risks 
 UNL is not leveraged. 
 UNL has not leveraged, and does not intend to leverage, its assets through borrowings or otherwise, and makes its investments accordingly. Consistent with the foregoing, UNL’s announced investment intentions, and any changes thereto, will take into account the need for UNL to make permitted investments that also allow it to maintain adequate liquidity to meet its margin and collateral requirements and to avoid, to the extent reasonably possible, UNL becoming leveraged. If market conditions require it, UNL may implement risk reduction procedures, which may include changes to UNL’s investments, and such changes may occur on short notice if they occur other than during a roll or rebalance period.
 UNL may temporarily limit the offering of Creation Baskets. 
 UNL may determine to limit the issuance of its shares through the offering of Creation Baskets to its Authorized Participants in order to allow it to reinvest the proceeds from sales of its Creation Baskets in currently permitted assets in a manner that meets its investment 

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 objective. UNL will announce to the market through the filing of a Current Report on Form 8-K if it intends to limit the offering of Creation Baskets at any time. In such case, orders for Creation Baskets will be considered for acceptance in the order they are received by UNL and UNL would continue to accept requests for redemption of its shares from Authorized Participants through Redemption Baskets during the period of the limited offering of Creation Baskets.
 Certain of UNL’s investments could be illiquid, which could cause large losses to investors at any time or from time to time. 
 Futures positions cannot always be liquidated at the desired price. It is difficult to execute a trade at a specific price when there is a relatively small volume of buy and sell orders in a market. A market disruption, such as a foreign government taking political actions that disrupt the market for its currency, its natural gas production or exports, or another major export, can also make it difficult to liquidate a position. Because both Futures Contracts and Other Natural Gas-Related Investments may be illiquid, UNL’s Natural Gas Interests may be more difficult to liquidate at favorable prices in periods of illiquid markets and losses may be incurred during the period in which positions are being liquidated. The large size of the positions that UNL may acquire increases the risk of illiquidity both by making its positions more difficult to liquidate and by potentially increasing losses while trying to do so.
 OTC contracts that are not subject to clearing may be even less marketable than futures contracts because they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions, and are entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, they are not transferable without the consent of the counterparty. These conditions make such contracts less liquid than standardized futures contracts traded on a commodities exchange and could adversely impact UNL’s ability to realize the full value of such contracts. In addition, even if collateral is used to reduce counterparty credit risk, sudden changes in the value of OTC transactions may leave a party open to financial risk due to a counterparty default since the collateral held may not cover a party’s exposure on the transaction in such situations.
 UNL is not actively managed and its investment objective is to track the Benchmark Futures Contracts so that the average daily percentage change in UNL’s NAV for any period of 30 successive valuation days will be within plus/minus ten percent (10%) of the average daily percentage change in the price of the Benchmark Futures Contracts over the same period. 
 UNL is not actively managed by conventional methods. Accordingly, if UNL’s investments in Natural Gas Interests are declining in value, in the ordinary course, UNL will not close out such positions except in connection with paying the proceeds to an Authorized Participant upon the redemption of a basket or closing out its positions in Futures Contracts and other permitted investments (i) in connection with the monthly change in the Benchmark Futures Contracts or when UNL otherwise determines it would be appropriate to do so, e.g., due to regulatory requirements or risk mitigation measures, or to avoid UNL becoming leveraged, and it reinvests the proceeds in new Futures Contracts or Other Natural Gas-Related Investments to the extent possible. USCF will seek to cause the NAV of UNL’s shares to track the Benchmark Futures Contracts during periods in which its price is flat or declining as well as when the price is rising.
 UNL’s ability to invest in the Benchmark Futures Contracts could be limited as a result of any or all of the following: evolving market conditions, a change in regulatory accountability levels and position limits imposed on UNL with respect to its investment in Futures Contracts, additional or different risk mitigation measures taken by market participants, generally, including UNL, with respect to UNL acquiring additional Futures Contracts, or UNL selling additional shares.
 UNL may not meet the listing standards of NYSE Arca, which would adversely impact an investor’s ability to sell shares. 
 UNL’s shares are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca under the market symbol “UNL.” NYSE Arca may suspend UNL’s shares from trading on the exchange with or without prior notice to UNL, upon failure of UNL to comply with the NYSE’s listing requirements, or when in its sole discretion, the NYSE Arca determines that such suspension of dealings is in the public interest or otherwise warranted. There can be no assurance that the requirements necessary to maintain the listing of UNL’s shares will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. If UNL were unable to meet the NYSE’s listing standards and were to become delisted, an investor’s ability to sell its shares would be adversely impacted.

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 The NYSE Arca may halt trading in UNL’s shares, which would adversely impact an investor’s ability to sell shares. 
 Trading in shares may be halted due to market conditions or, in light of NYSE Arca rules and procedures, for reasons that, in the view of the NYSE Arca, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to “circuit breaker” rules that require trading to be halted for a specified period based on a specified market decline.
 The liquidity of UNL’s shares may also be affected by the withdrawal from participation of Authorized Participants, which could adversely affect the market price of the shares. 
 In the event that one or more Authorized Participants which have substantial interests in the shares withdraw from participation, the liquidity of the shares will likely decrease, which could adversely affect the market price of the shares and result in investors incurring a loss on their investment.
 Shareholders that are not Authorized Participants may only purchase or sell their shares in secondary trading markets, and the conditions associated with trading in secondary markets may adversely affect investors’ investment in the shares. 
 Only Authorized Participants may directly purchase from or redeem shares with UNL through Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets respectively. All other investors that desire to purchase or sell shares must do so through the NYSE Arca or in other markets, if any, in which the shares may be traded. Shares may trade at a premium or discount relative to NAV per share.
 The lack of an active trading market for UNL’s shares may result in losses on an investor’s investment in UNL at the time the investor sells the shares. 
 Although UNL’s shares are listed and traded on the NYSE Arca, there can be no guarantee that an active trading market for the shares will be maintained. If an investor needs to sell shares at a time when no active trading market for them exists, the price the investor receives upon sale of the shares, assuming they were able to be sold, likely would be lower than if an active market existed.
 Limited partners and shareholders do not participate in the management of UNL and do not control USCF, so they do not have any influence over basic matters that affect UNL. 
 The limited partners and shareholders take no part in the management or control, and have a minimal voice in UNL’s operations or business. Limited partners and shareholders must therefore rely upon the duties and judgment of USCF to manage UNL’s affairs. Limited partners and shareholders have no right to elect USCF on an annual or any other continuing basis. If USCF voluntarily withdraws, however, the holders of a majority of UNL’s outstanding shares (excluding for purposes of such determination shares owned, if any, by the withdrawing general partner and its affiliates) may elect its successor. USCF may not be removed as general partner except upon approval by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3 percent of UNL’s outstanding shares (excluding shares, if any, owned by USCF and its affiliates), subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions set forth in the LP Agreement.
 UNL could become leveraged if it had insufficient assets to completely meet its margin or collateral requirements relating to its investments .
 Although UNL does not and will not borrow money or use debt to satisfy its margin or collateral obligations in respect of its investments, it could become leveraged if UNL were to hold insufficient assets that would allow it to meet not only the current, but also future, margin or collateral obligations required for such investments. Such a circumstance could occur if UNL were to hold assets that have a value of less than zero.
 USCF endeavors to have the value of UNL’s Treasuries, cash and cash equivalents, whether held by UNL or posted as margin or other collateral, at all times approximate the aggregate market value of its obligations under its Futures Contracts and Other Natural Gas-Related Investments. Although permitted to do so under its Limited Partnership Agreement, UNL has not and does not intend to leverage its assets by making investments beyond its potential ability to meet the potential margin and collateral obligations relating to such investments. Consistent with this, UNL’s investment decisions will take into account the need for UNL to make permitted investments that also allow it to maintain adequate liquidity to meet its margin and collateral requirements and to avoid, to the extent reasonably possible, UNL becoming leveraged, including by its holding of assets that have a high probability of having a value of less than zero.

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 Limited partners and shareholders do not participate in the management of UNL and do not control USCF, so they do not have any influence over basic matters that affect UNL. 
 The limited partners and shareholders take no part in the management or control, and have a minimal voice in UNL’s operations or business. Limited partners and shareholders must therefore rely upon the duties and judgment of USCF to manage UNL’s affairs. Limited partners and shareholders have no right to elect USCF on an annual or any other continuing basis. If USCF voluntarily withdraws, however, the holders of a majority of UNL’s outstanding shares (excluding for purposes of such determination shares owned, if any, by the withdrawing general partner and its affiliates) may elect its successor. USCF may not be removed as general partner except upon approval by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3 percent of UNL’s outstanding shares (excluding shares, if any, owned by USCF and its affiliates), subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions set forth in the LP Agreement.
 Limited partners may have limited liability in certain circumstances, including potentially having liability for the return of wrongful distributions. 
 Under Delaware law, a limited partner might be held liable for UNL’s obligations as if it were a general partner if the limited partner participates in the control of the partnership’s business and the persons who transact business with the partnership think the limited partner is the general partner.
 A limited partner will not be liable for assessments in addition to its initial capital investment in any of UNL’s shares. However, a limited partner may be required to repay to UNL any amounts wrongfully returned or distributed to it under some circumstances. Under Delaware law, UNL may not make a distribution to limited partners if the distribution causes UNL’s liabilities (other than liabilities to partners on account of their partnership interests and nonrecourse liabilities) to exceed the fair value of UNL’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.
 The LLC Agreement provides limited authority to the Non-Management Directors, and any Director of USCF may be removed by USCF’s parent company, which is wholly owned by Concierge, a controlled public company where the majority of shares are owned by Nicholas D. Gerber along with certain of his other family members and certain other shareholders. 
 USCF’s Board of Directors currently consists of four Management Directors, who are also executive officers or employees of USCF, and three Non-Management Directors, who are considered independent for purposes of applicable NYSE Arca and SEC rules. Under USCF’s LLC Agreement, the Non-Management Directors have only such authority as the Management Directors expressly confer upon them, which means that the Non-Management Directors may have less authority to control the actions of the Management Directors than is typically the case with the independent members of a company’s Board of Directors. In addition, any Director may be removed by written consent of Wainwright Holdings, Inc. (“Wainwright”), which is the sole member of USCF. The sole shareholder of Wainwright is Concierge Technologies, Inc., a company publicly traded under the ticker symbol “CNCG” (“Concierge”). Mr. Nicholas D. Gerber, along with certain of his family members and certain other shareholders, owns the majority of the shares in Concierge, which is the sole shareholder of Wainwright, the sole member of USCF. Accordingly, although USCF is governed by the USCF Board of Directors, which consists of both Management Directors and Non-Management Directors, pursuant to the LLC Agreement, it is possible for Mr. Gerber to exercise his indirect control of Wainwright to effect the removal of any Director (including the Non-Management Directors which comprise the Audit Committee) and to replace that Director with another Director. Having control in one person could have a negative impact on USCF and UNL, including their regulatory obligations.
 There is a risk that UNL will not earn trading gains sufficient to compensate for the fees and expenses that it must pay and as such UNL may not earn any profit. 
 UNL pays brokerage charges of approximately 0.03% of average total net assets based on brokerage fees of $3.50 per buy or sell, management fees of 0.04% of NAV on its average net assets, and OTC spreads and extraordinary expenses (e.g., subsequent offering expenses, other expenses not in the ordinary course of business, including the indemnification of any person against liabilities and obligations to the extent permitted by law and required under the LP Agreement and under agreements entered into by USCF on UNL’s behalf and the bringing and defending of actions at law or in equity and otherwise engaging in the conduct of litigation and the incurring of legal expenses and the settlement of claims and litigation) that cannot be quantified.

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 These fees and expenses must be paid in all cases regardless of whether UNL’s activities are profitable. Accordingly, UNL must earn trading gains sufficient to compensate for these fees and expenses before it can earn any profit.
 UNL is subject to extensive regulatory reporting and compliance. 
 UNL is subject to a comprehensive scheme of regulation under the federal commodities and securities laws. UNL could be subject to sanctions for a failure to comply with those requirements, which could adversely affect its financial performance (in the case of financial penalties) or ability to pursue its investment objective (in the case of a limitation on its ability to trade).
 Because UNL’s shares are publicly traded, UNL is subject to certain rules and regulations of federal, state and financial market exchange entities charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded. These entities include the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”), the SEC, the CFTC and NYSE Arca and these authorities have continued to develop additional regulations or interpretations of existing regulations. UNL’s ongoing efforts to comply with these regulations and interpretations have resulted in, and are likely to continue resulting in, a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance related activities.
 UNL is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. UNL’s internal control system is designed to provide reasonable assurance to its management regarding the preparation and fair presentation of published financial statements. All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective may provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation.
 Regulatory changes or actions, including the implementation of new legislation is impossible to predict but may significantly and adversely affect UNL. 
 The futures markets are subject to comprehensive statutes, regulations, and margin requirements. In addition, the CFTC and futures exchanges are authorized to take extraordinary actions in the event of a market emergency, including, for example, the retroactive implementation of speculative position limits or higher margin requirements, the establishment of daily price limits and the suspension of trading. Regulation of commodity interest transactions in the United States is a rapidly changing area of law and is subject to ongoing modification by governmental and judicial action. Considerable regulatory attention has been focused on non-traditional investment pools that are publicly distributed in the United States. In addition, the SEC, CFTC and the exchanges are authorized to take extraordinary actions in the event of a market emergency, including, for example, the retroactive implementation of speculative position limits or higher margin requirements, the establishment of daily price limits and the suspension of trading. Further, various national governments outside of the United States have expressed concern regarding the disruptive effects of speculative trading in the energy markets and the need to regulate the derivatives markets in general. The effect of any future regulatory change on UNL is impossible to predict, but it could be substantial and adverse. For a more detailed discussion of the regulations to be imposed by the CFTC and the SEC and the potential impacts thereof on UNL, please see “Item 1. Business – Commodities Regulation” in this annual report on Form 10-K.
 UNL is not a registered investment company so shareholders do not have the protections of the 1940 Act. 
 UNL is not an investment company subject to the 1940 Act. Accordingly, investors do not have the protections afforded by that statute, which, for example, requires investment companies to have a majority of disinterested directors and regulates the relationship between the investment company and its investment manager.
 Trading in international markets could expose UNL to credit and regulatory risk. 
 UNL invests primarily in Futures Contracts, a significant portion of which are traded on United States exchanges, including the NYMEX. However, a portion of UNL’s trades may take place on markets and exchanges outside the United States. Trading on such non-U.S. markets or exchanges presents risks because they are not subject to the same degree of regulation as their U.S. counterparts, including potentially different or diminished investor protections. In trading contracts denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars, UNL is subject to the risk of adverse exchange-rate movements between the dollar and the functional currencies of such contracts. Additionally, trading on non-U.S. exchanges is subject to the risks presented by exchange controls, expropriation, increased tax burdens and exposure to local economic declines and political instability. An adverse development with respect to any of these variables could reduce the profit or increase the loss earned on trades in the affected international markets.

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 UNL and USCF may have conflicts of interest, which may permit them to favor their own interests to the detriment of shareholders. 
 UNL is subject to actual and potential inherent conflicts involving USCF, various commodity futures brokers and Authorized Participants. USCF’s officers, directors and employees do not devote their time exclusively to UNL and also are directors, officers or employees of other entities that may compete with UNL for their services. They could have a conflict between their responsibilities to UNL and to those other entities. As a result of these and other relationships, parties involved with UNL have a financial incentive to act in a manner other than in the best interests of UNL and the shareholders. USCF has not established any formal procedure to resolve conflicts of interest. Consequently, investors are dependent on the good faith of the respective parties subject to such conflicts of interest to resolve them equitably. Although USCF attempts to monitor these conflicts, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for USCF to ensure that these conflicts do not, in fact, result in adverse consequences to the shareholders.
 USCF serves as the general partner or sponsor to each of UNL and the Related Public Funds. USCF may have a conflict to the extent that its trading decisions for UNL may be influenced by the effect they would have on the other funds it manages. By way of example, if, as a result of reaching position limits imposed by the NYMEX, UNL purchased natural gas futures contracts, this decision could impact UNL’s ability to purchase additional natural gas futures contracts if the number of contracts held by funds managed by USCF reached the maximum allowed by the NYMEX. Similar situations could adversely affect the ability of any fund to track its Benchmark Futures Contracts.
 UNL may also be subject to certain conflicts with respect to its FCMs, including, but not limited to, conflicts that result from receiving greater amounts of compensation from other clients, or purchasing opposite or competing positions on behalf of third party accounts traded through the FCMs. In addition, USCF’s principals, officers, directors or employees may trade futures and related contracts for their own account. A conflict of interest may exist if their trades are in the same markets and at the same time as UNL trades using the clearing broker to be used by UNL. A potential conflict also may occur if USCF’s principals, officers, directors or employees trade their accounts more aggressively or take positions in their accounts which are opposite, or ahead of, the positions taken by UNL.
 UNL could terminate at any time and cause the liquidation and potential loss of an investor’s investment and could upset the overall maturity and timing of an investor’s investment portfolio. 
 UNL may terminate at any time, regardless of whether UNL has incurred losses, subject to the terms of the LP Agreement. In particular, unforeseen circumstances, including, but not limited to, (i) market conditions, regulatory requirements, risk mitigation measures taken by UNL or third parties or otherwise that would lead UNL to determine that it could no longer foreseeably meet its business objective or that UNL’s aggregate net assets in relation to its operating expenses or its margin or collateral requirements make the continued operation of UNL unreasonable or imprudent, or (ii) adjudication of incompetence, bankruptcy, dissolution, withdrawal, or removal of USCF as the general partner of UNL could cause UNL to terminate unless a majority interest of the limited partners within 90 days of the event elects to continue the partnership and appoints a successor general partner, or the affirmative vote of a majority in interest of the limited partners subject to certain conditions. However, no level of losses will require USCF to terminate UNL. UNL’s termination would cause the liquidation and potential loss of an investor’s investment. Termination could also negatively affect the overall maturity and timing of an investor’s investment portfolio.

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 UNL does not expect to make cash distributions. 
 UNL has not previously made any cash distributions and intends to reinvest any realized gains in additional Natural Gas Interests rather than distributing cash to limited partners, or other shareholders. Therefore, unlike mutual funds, commodity pools or other investment pools that actively manage their investments in an attempt to realize income and gains from their investing activities and distribute such income and gains to their investors, UNL generally does not expect to distribute cash to limited partners. An investor should not invest in UNL if the investor will need cash distributions from UNL to pay taxes on its share of income and gains of UNL, if any, or for any other reason. Nonetheless, although UNL 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 Natural Gas Interests and investors adversely react to being taxed on such income without receiving distributions that could be used to pay such tax. If this income becomes significant then cash distributions may be made.
 An unanticipated number of Redemption Basket requests during a short period of time could have an adverse effect on UNL’s NAV. 
 If a substantial number of requests for redemption of Redemption Baskets are received by UNL during a relatively short period of time, UNL may not be able to satisfy the requests from UNL’s assets not committed to trading. As a consequence, it could be necessary to liquidate positions in UNL’s trading positions before the time that the trading strategies would otherwise dictate liquidation.
 An unanticipated number of Creation Basket requests during a short period of time could result in a shortage of shares. 
 USCF makes every effort to predict and maintain an adequate amount of shares outstanding. However, if a substantial number of requests for Creation Baskets are received by UNL during a relatively short period of time that substantially differ from past creation volumes, due to market volatility or otherwise, could result in circumstances where, because of high demand for its shares, UNL may not have sufficient shares available for sale to satisfy demand and Authorized Participants may, therefore, be unable to purchase additional Creation Baskets.
 In the event that there was a suspension in the ability of Authorized Participants to purchase additional Creation Baskets, Authorized Participants and other groups that make a market in shares of UNL would likely still continue to actively trade the shares. However, in such a situation, Authorized Participants and other market makers may seek to adjust the market they make in the shares. Specifically, such market participants may increase the spread between the prices that they quote for offers to buy and sell shares to allow them to adjust to the potential uncertainty as to when they might be able to purchase additional Creation Baskets of shares. In addition, Authorized Participants may be less willing to offer to quote offers to buy or sell shares in large numbers. The potential impact of either wider spreads between bid and offer prices, or reduced number of shares on which quotes may be available, could increase the trading costs to investors in UNL compared to the quotes and the number of shares on which bids and offers are made if the Authorized Participants still were able to freely create new baskets of shares. In addition, there could be a significant variation between the market price at which shares are traded and the shares’ NAV, which is also the price shares can be redeemed with UNL by Authorized Participants in Redemption Baskets. The foregoing could also create significant deviations from UNL’s investment objective. Any potential impact to the market in shares of UNL that could occur from the Authorized Participant’s inability to create new baskets would likely not extend beyond the time when additional shares would be registered and available for distribution.
 UNL may determine that to allow it to reinvest the proceeds from sales of its Creation Baskets in currently permitted assets in a manner that meets its investment objective it may limit its offers of Creation Baskets. 
 UNL may determine that UNL will limit the issuance of its shares through the offering of Creation Baskets to its Authorized Participants. As a result of certain circumstances described herein, including (1) the need to comply with regulatory requirements (including, but not limited to, exchange accountability levels and position limits); (2) market conditions (including but not limited to those allowing UNL to obtain greater liquidity or to execute transactions with more favorable pricing); and (3) risk mitigation measures taken by UNL’s current and other FCMs that limit UNL and other market participants from investing in particular natural gas futures contracts, UNL’s management can determine that it will limit the issuance of shares and the offerings of Creation Baskets because it is unable to invest the proceeds from such offerings in investments that would permit it to reasonably meet its investment objective.
 If such a determination is made, the same consequences associated with a suspension of the offering of Creation Baskets, as described in the foregoing risk factor, An unanticipated number of Creation Basket requests during a short period of time could result in a shortage of shares, could also occur as a result of UNL determining to limit the offering of creation baskets.

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 The value of Treasury Bills and Money Market securities held by UNL will fluctuate in value with changes in interest rates. 
 Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term investments and higher for longer term investments. UNL may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. When interest rates fall, UNL may be required to reinvest the proceeds from the sale, redemption or early prepayment of a Treasury Bill or money market security at a lower interest rate.
 UNL may lose money by investing in government money market funds. 
 UNL invests in government money market funds. Although such government money market funds seek to preserve the value of an investment at $1.00 per share, there is no guarantee that they will be able to do so and UNL may lose money by investing in a government money market fund. An investment in a government money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, referred to herein as the FDIC, or any other government agency. The share price of a government money market fund can fall below the $1.00 share price. UNL cannot rely on or expect a government money market fund's adviser or its affiliates to enter into support agreements or take other actions to maintain the government money market fund's $1.00 share price. The credit quality of a government money market fund's holdings can change rapidly in certain markets, and the default of a single holding could have an adverse impact on the government money market fund's share price. Due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of securities held by a government money market fund may vary. A government money market fund's share price can also be negatively affected during periods of high redemption pressures and/or illiquid markets.
 The failure or bankruptcy of a clearing broker or UNL’s Custodian could result in a substantial loss of UNL’s assets and could impair UNL in its ability to execute trades. 
 The CEA and CFTC regulations impose several requirements on FCMs and clearing houses that are designed to protect customers, including mandating the implementation of risk management programs, internal monitoring and controls, capital and liquidity standards, customer disclosures, and auditing and examination programs. In particular, the CEA and CFTC regulations require FCMs and clearing houses to segregate all funds received from customers from proprietary assets. There can be no assurance that the requirements imposed by the CEA and CFTC regulations will prevent losses to, or not materially adversely affect, UNL or its investors.
 In particular, in the event of an FCM’s or clearing house’s bankruptcy, UNL could be limited to recovering either a pro rata share of all available funds segregated on behalf of the FCM’s combined customer accounts or UNL may not recover any assets at all. UNL may also incur a loss of any unrealized profits on its open and closed positions. This is because if such a bankruptcy were to occur, UNL would be afforded the protections granted to customers of an FCM, and participants to transactions cleared through a clearing house, under the United States Bankruptcy Code and applicable CFTC regulations. Such provisions generally provide for a pro rata distribution to customers of customer property held by the bankrupt FCMs or an exchange’s clearing house if the customer property held by the FCMs or the exchange’s clearing house is insufficient to satisfy all customer claims.
 Bankruptcy of a clearing FCMs can be caused by, among other things, the default of one of the FCM’s customers. In this event, the exchange’s clearing house is permitted to use the entire amount of margin posted by UNL (as well as margin posted by other customers of the FCM) to cover the amounts owed by the bankrupt FCM. Consequently, UNL could be unable to recover amounts due to it on its futures positions, including assets posted as margin, and could sustain substantial losses.
 Notwithstanding that UNL could sustain losses upon the failure or bankruptcy of its FCM, the majority of UNL’s assets are held in Treasuries, cash and/or cash equivalents with UNL’s Custodian and would not be impacted by the bankruptcy of an FCM.
 The failure or bankruptcy of UNL’s Custodian could result in a substantial loss of UNL’s assets. 
 The majority of UNL’s assets are held in Treasuries, cash and/or cash equivalents with the Custodian. The insolvency of the Custodian could result in a complete loss of UNL’s assets held by that Custodian, which, at any given time, would likely comprise a substantial portion of UNL’s total assets.
 Third parties may infringe upon or otherwise violate intellectual property rights or assert that USCF has infringed or otherwise violated their intellectual property rights, which may result in significant costs and diverted attention. 

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 It is possible that third parties might utilize UNL’s intellectual property or technology, including the use of its business methods, trademarks and trading program software, without permission. USCF has a patent for UNL’s business method and has registered its trademarks. UNL does not currently have any proprietary software. However, if it obtains proprietary software in the future, any unauthorized use of UNL’s proprietary software and other technology could also adversely affect its competitive advantage. UNL may not have adequate resources to implement procedures for 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 USCF or claim that USCF has violated their intellectual property rights, including their copyrights, trademark rights, trade names, trade secrets and patent rights. As a result, USCF 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 USCF is successful and regardless of the merits, may result in significant costs, divert its resources from UNL, or require it to change its proprietary software and other technology or enter into royalty or licensing agreements.
 Due to the increased use of technologies, intentional and unintentional cyber-attacks pose operational and information security risks. 
 With the increased use of technologies such as the internet and the dependence on computer systems to perform necessary business functions, UNL is susceptible to operational and information security risks. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events such as a cyber-attack against UNL, a natural catastrophe, an industrial accident, failure of UNL’s disaster recovery systems, or consequential employee error. Cyber-attacks include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyber-attacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites. Cyber security failures or breaches of UNL’s clearing broker or third party service provider (including, but not limited to, index providers, the administrator and transfer agent, the custodian), have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in financial losses, the inability of UNL shareholders to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, and/or additional compliance costs. Adverse effects can become particularly acute if those events affect UNL’s electronic data processing, transmission, storage, and retrieval systems, or impact the availability, integrity, or confidentiality of our data. In addition, a service provider that has experienced a cyber-security incident may divert resources normally devoted to servicing UNL to addressing the incident, which would be likely to have an adverse effect on UNL's operations. Cyber-attacks may also cause disruptions to the futures exchanges and clearinghouses through which UNL invests in futures contracts, which could result in disruptions to UNL's ability to pursue its investment objective, resulting in financial losses to UNL and its shareholders.
 In addition, substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent any cyber incidents in the future. UNL and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result. While USCF and the Related Public Funds, including UNL, have established business continuity plans, there are inherent limitations in such plans, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified or that new risks will emerge before countervailing measures can be implemented. Furthermore, UNL cannot control cybersecurity plans and systems of its service providers, market makers or Authorized Participants.
 UNL's investment returns could be negatively affected by climate change and greenhouse gas restrictions. 
 Driven by concern over the risks of climate change, a number of countries have adopted, or are considering the adoption of, regulatory frameworks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or production and use of oil and gas. These include adoption of cap and trade regimes, carbon taxes, trade tariffs, minimum renewable usage requirements, restrictive permitting, increased efficiency standards, and incentives or mandates for renewable energy. Political and other actors and their agents increasingly seek to advance climate change objectives indirectly, such as by seeking to reduce the availability of or increase the cost for, financial and investment in the oil and gas sector and taking actions intended to promote changes in business strategy for oil and gas companies. Many governments are also providing tax advantages and other subsidies to support transitioning to alternative energy sources or mandating the use of specific fuels other than oil or natural gas. Depending on how policies are formulated and applied, they could have the potential to negatively affect UNL's investment returns and make oil and natural gas products more expensive or less competitive.

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 USCF is the subject of class action litigation. In light of the inherent uncertainties involved in litigation matters, an adverse outcome in this litigation could materially adversely affect USCF's financial condition. 
 USCF and USCF's directors and certain of its officers are currently subject to class action litigation. Estimating an amount or range of possible losses resulting from litigation proceedings to USCF is inherently difficult and requires an extensive degree of judgment, particularly where the matters involve indeterminate claims for monetary damages and are subject to appeal. In addition, because most legal proceedings are resolved over extended periods of time, potential losses are subject to change due to, among other things, new developments, changes in legal strategy, the outcome of intermediate procedural and substantive rulings and other parties' settlement posture and their evaluation of the strength or weakness of their case against USCF. For these reasons, we are currently unable to predict the ultimate timing or outcome of, or reasonably estimate the possible losses or a range of possible losses resulting therefrom. In light of the inherent uncertainties involved in such matters, an adverse outcome in this litigation could materially adversely affect USCF's financial condition, results of operations or cash flows in any particular reporting period. In addition, litigation could result in substantial costs and divert USCF's management's attention and resources from conducting USCF's operations, including the management of UNL and the Related Public Funds. For more information, see “Item 3. Legal Proceedings” in this annual report on Form 10-K.
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 Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments. 
 Not applicable.
 Item 2. Properties. 
 Not applicable.
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.
United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund, LP 10-K

Item 1A. Risk Factors
