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ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2019
ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS |
ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS | NOTE 1 — ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS The United States Natural Gas Fund, LP (“UNG”) was organized as a limited partnership under the laws of the state of Delaware on September 11, 2006. UNG is a commodity pool that issues limited partnership shares (“shares”) that may be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “NYSE Arca”). Prior to November 25, 2008, UNG’s shares traded on the American Stock Exchange (the “AMEX”). UNG will continue in perpetuity, unless terminated sooner upon the occurrence of one or more events as described in its Fifth Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership dated as of December 15, 2017 (the “LP Agreement”). The investment objective of UNG is for the daily changes in percentage terms of its shares’ per share net asset value (“NAV”) to reflect the daily changes in percentage terms of the price of natural gas delivered at the Henry Hub, Louisiana as measured by the daily changes in the price of the futures contract on natural gas traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (the “NYMEX”) that is the near month contract to expire, 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 (the “Benchmark Futures Contract”), plus interest earned on UNG’s collateral holdings, less UNG’s expenses. UNG’s investment objective is not for its NAV or market price of shares to equal, in dollar terms, the spot price of natural gas or any particular futures contract based on natural gas, nor is UNG’s investment objective for the percentage change in its NAV to reflect the percentage change of the price of any particular futures contract as measured over a time period greater than one day. United States Commodity Funds LLC (“USCF”), the general partner of UNG, believes that it is not practical to manage the portfolio to achieve such an investment goal when investing in Natural Gas Futures Contracts (as defined below) and Other Natural Gas-Related Investments (as defined below). The net assets of UNG consist primarily of investments in futures contracts for natural gas that are traded on the NYMEX, ICE Futures Exchange (“ICE Futures”) or other U.S. and foreign exchanges (collectively, “Natural Gas Futures Contracts”) and, to a lesser extent, in order to comply with regulatory requirements or in view of market conditions, other natural gas-related investments such as cash-settled options on natural gas Futures Contracts, forward contracts for natural gas, cleared swap contracts, and non-exchange traded over-the-counter (“OTC”) transactions that are based on the price of natural gas, crude oil and other petroleum-based fuels, as well as futures contracts for crude oil, diesel-heating oil, gasoline and other petroleum-based fuels and indices based on the foregoing (collectively, “Other Natural Gas-Related Investments”). Market conditions that USCF currently anticipates could cause UNG to invest in Other Natural Gas-Related Investments including those allowing UNG to obtain greater liquidity or to execute transactions with more favorable pricing. For convenience and unless otherwise specified, Natural Gas Futures Contracts and Other Natural Gas-Related Investments collectively are referred to as “Natural Gas Interests” in this annual report on Form 10‑K. As of December 31, 2019, UNG held 20,310 NG Futures February 2020 Contracts traded on the NYMEX and did not hold any Natural Gas Futures Contracts traded on the ICE Futures US. UNG commenced investment operations on April 18, 2007 and has a fiscal year ending on December 31. USCF is responsible for the management of UNG. USCF is a member of the National Futures Association (the “NFA”) and became registered as a commodity pool operator with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) effective December 1, 2005 and a swaps firm on August 8, 2013. USCF is also the general partner of the United States Oil Fund, LP (“USO”), the United States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP (“USL”) and the United States Gasoline Fund, LP (“UGA”), which listed their limited partnership shares on the AMEX under the ticker symbols “USO” on April 10, 2006, “USL” on December 6, 2007 and “UGA” on February 26, 2008, respectively. As a result of the acquisition of the AMEX by NYSE Euronext, each of USO’s, USL’s and UGA’s shares commenced trading on the NYSE Arca on November 25, 2008. USCF is also the general partner of the United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund, LP (“UNL”) and the United States Brent Oil Fund, LP (“BNO”), which listed their limited partnership shares on the NYSE Arca under the ticker symbols “UNL” on November 18, 2009 and “BNO” on June 2, 2010, respectively. USCF previously served as the general partner for the United States Short Oil Fund, LP (“DNO”) and the United States Diesel-Heating Oil Fund, LP (“UHN”), both of which were liquidated in 2018. USCF is also the sponsor of the United States Commodity Index Fund (“USCI”), the United States Copper Index Fund (“CPER”) and the USCF Crescent Crypto Index Fund (“XBET”), each a series of the United States Commodity Index Funds Trust (“USCIFT”). USCF previously served as the general partner for the United States Agricultural Index Fund (“USAG”) a series of USCIFT which was liquidated in 2018. XBET is currently in registration and has not commenced operations. USCI and CPER listed their shares on the NYSE Arca under the ticker symbols “USCI” on August 10, 2010 and “CPER” on November 15, 2011, respectively. In addition, USCF is the sponsor of the USCF Funds Trust, a Delaware statutory trust, and each of its series, the United States 3x Oil Fund (“USOU”) and the United States 3x Short Oil Fund (“USOD”), which listed their shares on the NYSE Arca on July 20, 2017 under the ticker symbols “USOU” and “USOD”, respectively. Each of USOU and USOD liquidated all of its assets and distributed cash pro rata to all remaining shareholders in December 2019. USO, UNG, UGA, UNL, USL, BNO, USCI and CPER are referred to collectively herein as the “Related Public Funds.” UNG issues shares to certain authorized purchasers (“Authorized Participants”) by offering baskets consisting of 100,000 shares (“Creation Baskets”) through ALPS Distributors, Inc., as the marketing agent (the “Marketing Agent”). The purchase price for a Creation Basket is based upon the NAV of a share calculated shortly after the close of the core trading session on the NYSE Arca on the day the order to create the basket is properly received. Authorized Participants pay UNG a $1,000 transaction fee for each order placed to create one or more Creation Baskets or to redeem one or more baskets (“Redemption Baskets”), consisting of 100,000 shares. Shares may be purchased or sold on a nationally recognized securities exchange in smaller increments than a Creation Basket or Redemption Basket. Shares purchased or sold on a nationally recognized securities exchange are not purchased or sold at the per share NAV of UNG but rather at market prices quoted on such exchange. In April 2007, UNG initially registered 30,000,000 shares on Form S‑1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). On April 18, 2007, UNG listed its shares on the AMEX under the ticker symbol “UNG” and switched to trading on the NYSE Arca under the same ticker symbol on November 25, 2008. On that day, UNG established its initial per share NAV by setting the price at $50.00 and issued 200,000 shares in exchange for $10,001,000. UNG also commenced investment operations on April 18, 2007, by purchasing Natural Gas Futures Contracts traded on the NYMEX based on natural gas. As of December 31, 2019, UNG had registered a total of 2,280,000,000 shares. On February 21, 2012, after the close of trading on the NYSE Arca, UNG effected a 1‑for‑4 reverse share split and post-split shares of UNG began trading on February 22, 2012. As a result of the reverse share split, every four pre-split shares of UNG were automatically exchanged for one post-split share. Immediately prior to the reverse share split, there were 174,297,828 shares of UNG issued and outstanding, representing a per share NAV of $5.51. Immediately after the reverse share split, the number of issued and outstanding shares of UNG decreased to 43,574,457, not accounting for fractional shares, and the per share NAV increased to $22.04. In connection with the reverse share split, the CUSIP number for UNG’s shares changed to 912318201. UNG’s ticker symbol, “UNG,” did not change. On January 4, 2018, after the close of trading on the NYSE Arca, UNG effected a 1-for-4 reverse share split and post-split shares of UNG began trading on January 5, 2018. As a result of the reverse share split, every four pre-split shares of UNG were automatically exchanged for one post-split share. Immediately prior to the reverse split, there were 97,466,476 shares of UNG issued and outstanding, representing a per share NAV of $5.69. Immediately after the reverse share split, the number of issued and outstanding shares of UNG decreased to 24,366,619, not accounting for fractional shares, and the per share NAV increased to $22.76. In connection with the reverse share split, the CUSIP number for UNG’s shares changed to 912318300. UNG’s ticker symbol, “UNG,” did not change.

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