Commodity Fund Manager United States Commodity Funds LLC Comments on Recent Media Reports About the Credit Risk of Certain Commo
27 September 2008 - 10:39AM
PR Newswire (US)
ALAMEDA, Calif., Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- United States Commodity
Funds LLC ("USCF"), the General Partner and manager of United
States Oil Fund, LP ("USO"), United States Natural Gas Fund, LP
("UNG"), United States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP ("USL"), United States
Gasoline Fund, LP ("UGA") and United States Heating Oil Fund, LP
("UHN") (together, the "Funds"), today responded to recent comments
made in media reports on the topic of credit risk and commodity
based exchange traded securities and ETFs. Such reports mentioned
that some commodity-based exchange traded securities make use of
various non-exchange traded commodity related derivatives, such as
swaps, to provide the fund's economic exposure to its underlying
commodity or commodities. The reports further raise the issue that
such non-listed investments raise the potential for counter-party
risk on the part of the commodity funds if the other participant in
the swap were to be unable to perform as required by the terms of
the swap. With the recent disruption in the financial markets, the
General Partner feels that some investors might incorrectly draw
conclusions from the articles about the credit risks involved in
the Funds managed by USCF. One article correctly mentions that a
particular USCF fund, USO, can make use of not only listed
exchange-traded futures contracts, but also a wide range of
alternative oil related investments, including swaps. However, it
may appear from the article that USO actually does make use of
non-exchange traded investments at the present time. This is not
true and may be a source of confusion and unnecessary concern on
the part of investors. Every day, the Funds mentioned above publish
a list of their portfolio's investments as of the end of each day
on their websites and investors may review the current holdings. At
the present time, except as noted below, all of the Funds mentioned
above only have exchange-traded futures contracts as their sole
commodity related investment. Currently all of the commodity
exposure for each of the Funds is in the form of commodity futures
contracts listed on the New York Mercantile Exchange ("NYMEX"). In
addition, a review of the quarterly filings for all of the Funds
would show that each fund, since its inception, has relied
exclusively on exchange-traded commodity futures to obtain its
particular commodity exposure. USCF cautions that although each
Fund has exclusively relied on exchange-traded commodity futures in
the past, the prospectuses of each of the Funds do permit the use
of other investments and may make use of such alternatives in the
future. In addition, as described in the prospectuses for USL, UGA
and UHN, the General Partner may require an Authorized Purchaser to
enter into or arrange for a block trade, exchange for physical or
exchange for swap, or other over-the-counter energy transaction
(through itself or a designated acceptable broker) with the Fund
for the purchase of a number and type of futures contracts at the
closing settlement price for such contracts on the purchase order
date. Although USCF believes that the use of exchange-traded
futures, such as ones listed on NYMEX, present only a very small
counter-party risk due to the fact that the trades are cleared
through an exchange-related clearing house, there are other
substantial risks. Investors are advised to read the prospectuses
of the Funds for a more detailed discussion of the risks of
investing in the Funds. The United States Oil Fund, LP (ticker:
USO), the United States Natural Gas Fund, LP (ticker: UNG), the
United States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP (ticker: USL), the United
States Gasoline Fund, LP (ticker: UGA), and the United States
Heating Oil Fund, LP (ticker: UHN) are distributed by ALPS
Distributors, Inc. Note: Investors should read the prospectus for
USO, UNG, USL, UGA, and UHN for more complete information about
these securities, including risks, expenses, and other important
terms. In addition, there can be no guarantee that USO, UNG, USL,
UGA, or UHN will be able to achieve their investment goals.
Commodities and futures generally are volatile and may not be
suitable for all investors The fund is speculative and involves a
high degree of risk. An investor may lose all or substantially all
of an investment in the fund"; "The fund is not a mutual fund or
any other type of Investment Company within the meaning of the
Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and is not subject to
regulation thereunder. This material must be accompanied or
preceded by a prospectus, please click the below links for a
prospectus pertaining to each fund.
http://www.unitedstatesgasolinefund.com/PDFS/UGA-Prospectus.pdfhttp://www.unitedstatesoilfund.com/pdfs/uso-prospectus.pdfhttp://www.unitedstates12monthoilfund.com/pdfs/usl-prospectus.pdfhttp://www.unitedstatesnaturalgasfund.com/PDFS/UNG-Prospectus.pdfhttp://www.unitedstatesheatingoilfund.com/PDFS/UHN-Prospectus.pdf
For an additional copy of the Prospectus contact: ALPS
Distributors, Inc., 1290 Broadway, Suite 1100, Denver, Colorado
80203 or call 1.800.920.0259. DATASOURCE: United States Commodity
Funds LLC CONTACT: Katie Rooney, Registered representative of ALPS
Distributors, Inc., +1-818-206-8148, , for United States Commodity
Funds LLC
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