USA Compression (USAC) Risk Analysis

The Partnership Agreement contains provisions that restrict the remedies available to unitholders for actions taken by the General Partner that otherwise might constitute breaches of fiduciary duty under state fiduciary duty law. For example, the Partnership Agreement: - provides that whenever the General Partner makes a determination or takes, or declines to take, any other action in its capacity as the General Partner, the General Partner is required to make such determination, or take or decline to take such other action, in good faith, and will not be subject to any higher standard imposed by the Partnership Agreement, Delaware law, or any other law, rule, or regulation, or at equity;- provides that the General Partner will not have any liability to us, or our unitholders, for decisions made in its capacity as general partner so long as such decisions are made in good faith, meaning that it believed that the decisions were in the best interest of the Partnership;- provides that the General Partner and its officers and directors will not be liable for monetary damages to us, our limited partners or their assignees resulting from any act or omission unless there has been a final and non-appealable judgment entered by a court of competent jurisdiction determining that the General Partner or its officers and directors, as the case may be, acted in bad faith or engaged in fraud or willful misconduct or, in the case of a criminal matter, acted with knowledge that the conduct was criminal; and - provides that the General Partner will not be in breach of its obligations under the Partnership Agreement or its fiduciary duties to us or our unitholders if a transaction with an affiliate or the resolution of a conflict of interest is: - approved by the conflicts committee of the Board, although the General Partner is not obligated to seek such approval;- approved by the vote of a majority of our outstanding common units, excluding any common units owned by the General Partner and its affiliates;- on terms no less favorable to us than those generally being provided to or available from unrelated third parties; or - fair and reasonable to us, taking into account the totality of the relationships among the parties involved, including other transactions that may be particularly favorable or advantageous to us. In a situation involving a transaction with an affiliate or a conflict of interest, any determination by the General Partner must be made in good faith. If an affiliate transaction or the resolution of a conflict of interest is not approved by our common unitholders or the conflicts committee and the Board determines that the resolution or course of action taken with respect to the affiliate transaction or conflict of interest satisfies either of the standards set forth in the last two bullets above, then it will be conclusively deemed that, in making its decision, the Board acted in good faith.

Common unitholders' voting rights are further restricted by a provision of the Partnership Agreement providing that any units held by a person or group that owns 20% or more of such class of units then outstanding, other than, with respect to our common units, the General Partner, its affiliates, their direct transferees, and their indirect transferees approved by the General Partner (which approval may be granted in its sole discretion) and persons who acquired such common units with the prior approval of the General Partner, cannot vote on any matter.

The General Partner may transfer its general partner interest to a third-party in a merger or in a sale of all or substantially all of its assets without the consent of the common unitholders. Furthermore, the Partnership Agreement does not restrict the ability of Energy Transfer to transfer all or a portion of its ownership interest in the General Partner to a third-party. The new owner of the General Partner would then be in a position to replace the majority of the Board, and all of the officers, of the General Partner with its own designees and thereby exert significant control over the decisions made by the Board and the officers of the General Partner.

The Partnership Agreement does not limit the number or timing of additional limited partner interests that we may issue, including limited partner interests that are convertible into or senior to our common units, without the approval of our common unitholders. Our issuance of additional common units, including pursuant to our DRIP, or other equity securities of equal or senior rank, such as additional preferred units, will have the following effects: - our existing common unitholders' proportionate ownership interest in us will decrease;- our amount of cash available for distribution to common unitholders may decrease;- the relative voting strength of each previously outstanding common unit may be diminished; and - the market price of our common units may decline.

As of February 12, 2026, Energy Transfer beneficially owns an aggregate of 46,056,228 common units and Westerman, Ltd. owns an aggregate of 18,175,323 of our common units. We have granted certain registration rights to Energy Transfer and its affiliates with respect to any common units they own, and have an obligation to file a registration statement with the SEC for the benefit of Westerman, Ltd. with respect to the common units they received as a result of the J-W Power Acquisition. Energy Transfer may, and Westerman, Ltd. may, subject to certain lock-up restrictions agreed to in the J-W Power Acquisition, sell our common units. Any sales of these common units in the public or private markets could have an adverse impact on the price of our common units.

If at any time the General Partner and its affiliates own more than 80% of our outstanding common units, the General Partner will have the right, but not the obligation, which it may assign to any of its affiliates or to us, to acquire all, but not less than all, of our common units held by unaffiliated persons at a price that is not less than their then-current market price, as calculated pursuant to the terms of the Partnership Agreement. As a result, holders of our common units may be required to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price. These holders also may incur a tax liability on a sale of their common units. As of December 31, 2025, the General Partner and its affiliates (including Energy Transfer), beneficially own an aggregate of approximately 36% of our outstanding common units.

Under Delaware law, unitholders could be held liable for our obligations to the same extent as a general partner if a court determined that the right of limited partners to remove our General Partner or to take other action under the Partnership Agreement constituted participation in the "control" of our business. Additionally, under Delaware law, the General Partner has unlimited liability for the obligations of the Partnership, such as our debts and environmental liabilities, except for those contractual obligations of the Partnership that are expressly made without recourse to the General Partner. The limitations on the liability of holders of limited partner interests for the obligations of a limited partnership have not been clearly established in some of the states in which we do business. Unitholders could have unlimited liability for obligations of the Partnership if a court or government agency determined that (i) we were conducting business in a state, but had not complied with that particular state's partnership statute; or (ii) a unitholder's right to act with other unitholders to remove or replace the General Partner, to approve some amendments to the Partnership Agreement, or to take other actions under the Partnership Agreement constituted "control" of our business.

Under certain circumstances, unitholders may have to repay amounts wrongfully returned or distributed to them. Under Section 17-607 of the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act (the "Delaware Act"), we may not make a distribution if the distribution would cause our liabilities to exceed the fair value of our assets. The Delaware Act provides that for a period of three years from the date of an impermissible distribution, limited partners who received the distribution and who knew at the time of the distribution that it violated Delaware law will be liable to the limited partnership for the distribution amount. Liabilities to partners on account of their interest in the Partnership and liabilities that are nonrecourse to the Partnership are not counted for purposes of determining whether a distribution is permissible.

Our Partnership Agreement provides that, with certain limited exceptions, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if such court does not have subject matter jurisdiction thereof, any other court located in the State of Delaware with subject matter jurisdiction) shall be the exclusive forum for any claims, suits, actions, or proceedings (i) arising out of, or relating in any way to the Partnership Agreement (including any claims, suits or actions to interpret, apply or enforce the provisions of the Partnership Agreement), any partnership interest or the duties, obligations, or liabilities among limited partners or of limited partners, or the rights or powers of, or restrictions on, the limited partners or us, (ii) asserting a claim arising out of any other instrument, document, agreement, or certificate contemplated by any provision of the Delaware Act relating to the Partnership or the Partnership Agreement, (iii) asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware Act, or (iv) arising out of the federal securities laws of the U.S. or securities or anti-fraud laws of any governmental authority. The exclusive forum provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or the Exchange Act, or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. To the extent that any such claims may be based on federal law claims, Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Furthermore, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies' certificates of incorporation or similar governing documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that a court could find the choice of forum provisions contained in our Partnership Agreement to be inapplicable or unenforceable, including with respect to claims arising under the U.S. federal securities laws. This exclusive forum provision may limit the ability of a limited partner to commence litigation in a forum that the limited partner prefers, or may require a limited partner to incur additional costs in order to commence litigation in Delaware, each of which may discourage such lawsuits against us or our General Partner's directors or officers. Alternatively, if a court were to find this exclusive forum provision inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings described above, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could negatively affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our common units are listed on the NYSE. Because we are a publicly traded partnership, the NYSE does not require us to have a majority of independent directors on the Board, or to establish a compensation committee, or a nominating and corporate governance committee. Accordingly, unitholders do not have the same protections afforded to investors in certain corporations that are subject to all of the NYSE corporate governance requirements. Please read Part III, Item 10 "Directors, Executive Officers, and Corporate Governance".

Unlike the holders of common stock in a corporation, our common unitholders only have limited voting rights on matters affecting our business and, therefore, limited ability to influence management's decisions regarding our business. Common unitholders have no right to elect the General Partner or the board of directors of the General Partner (the "Board"). Energy Transfer is the sole member of the General Partner and has the right to appoint all of the members of the Board, including all of its independent directors. If our common unitholders are dissatisfied with the General Partner's performance, they have little ability to remove the General Partner. The vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of all outstanding common units is required to remove the General Partner, and Energy Transfer currently owns approximately 32% of our outstanding common units, making any effort to remove the General Partner difficult. As a result of these limitations, the price of our common units may decline because of the absence or reduction of a takeover premium in the trading price. Furthermore, the Partnership Agreement contains provisions limiting the ability of common unitholders to call meetings or to obtain information about our operations, as well as other provisions limiting our common unitholders' ability to influence the manner or direction of management.

Energy Transfer owns and controls the General Partner and appoints all of the officers and directors of the General Partner, some of whom also are officers and directors of Energy Transfer. Although the General Partner has a fiduciary duty to manage us in a manner that is beneficial to us and our unitholders, the directors and officers of the General Partner also have a fiduciary duty to manage the General Partner in a manner that is beneficial to its owner. Conflicts of interest will arise between the General Partner and its owner, on the one hand, and us and our unitholders, on the other hand. In resolving these conflicts of interest, the General Partner may favor its own interests and the interests of its owner over our interests and the interests of our unitholders. These conflicts include the following situations, among others: - neither the Partnership Agreement nor any other agreement requires Energy Transfer to pursue a business strategy that favors us;- Energy Transfer and its affiliates are not prohibited from engaging in businesses or activities that are in direct competition with us or from offering business opportunities or selling assets to our competitors;- the General Partner is allowed to take into account the interests of parties other than us, such as its owner, in resolving conflicts of interest;- the Partnership Agreement limits the liability of and reduces the fiduciary duties owed by the General Partner, and also restricts the remedies available to our unitholders for actions that, without such limitations, might constitute breaches of fiduciary duty;- except in limited circumstances, the General Partner has the power and authority to conduct our business without unitholder approval;- the General Partner determines the amount and timing of asset purchases and sales, borrowings, issuance of additional partnership interests, and the creation, reduction, or increase of cash reserves, each of which can affect the amount of cash that is distributed to our unitholders;- the General Partner determines the amount and timing of any capital expenditures and whether a capital expenditure is classified as a maintenance capital expenditure, which reduces operating surplus, or an expansion capital expenditure, which does not reduce operating surplus. This determination can affect the amount of cash that is distributed to our unitholders;- the General Partner determines which costs it incurs are reimbursable by us;- the General Partner may cause us to borrow funds in order to permit the payment of cash distributions;- the Partnership Agreement permits us to classify up to $36.6 million as operating surplus, even if it is generated from asset sales, non-working capital borrowings, or other sources that otherwise would constitute capital surplus;- the Partnership Agreement does not restrict the General Partner from causing us to pay it or its affiliates for any services rendered to us, or entering into additional contractual arrangements with any of these entities on our behalf;- the General Partner currently limits, and intends to continue limiting, its liability for our contractual and other obligations;- the General Partner may exercise its right to call and purchase all of our common units not owned by it and its affiliates if together those entities at any time own more than 80% of our common units;- the General Partner controls the enforcement of the obligations that it and its affiliates owe to us; and - the General Partner decides whether to retain separate counsel, accountants, or others to perform services for us.

Our unitholders will be treated as partners to whom we will allocate taxable income. Unitholders are required to pay federal income taxes and, in some cases, state and local income taxes, on their share of our taxable income, irrespective of whether they receive cash distributions from us. Unitholders may not receive cash distributions from us equal to their share of our taxable income or even equal to the actual tax due from them with respect to that income. We may engage in transactions to de-lever the Partnership and manage our liquidity that may result in income and gain to our unitholders. For example, if we sell assets and use the proceeds to repay existing debt or fund capital expenditures, you may be allocated taxable income and gain resulting from the sale. The ultimate effect of any such allocations will depend on the unitholder's individual tax position with respect to its units. Unitholders are encouraged to consult their tax advisors with respect to the consequences of transactions that may result in income and gain to unitholders.

If our unitholders sell common units, they will recognize a gain or loss for federal income tax purposes equal to the difference between the amount realized and their tax basis in those common units. Because distributions in excess of their allocable share of our net taxable income decrease their tax basis in their common units, the amount, if any, of such prior excess distributions with respect to the common units a unitholder sells will, in effect, become taxable income to the unitholder if it sells such common units at a price greater than its tax basis in those common units, even if the price received is less than its original cost. In addition, because the amount realized includes a unitholder's share of our nonrecourse liabilities, a unitholder that sells common units may incur a tax liability in excess of the amount of cash received from the sale. A substantial portion of the amount realized from a unitholder's sale of our units, whether or not representing gain, may be taxed as ordinary income to such unitholder due to potential recapture items, including depreciation recapture. Thus, a unitholder may recognize both ordinary income and capital loss from the sale of units if the amount realized on a sale of such units is less than such unitholder's adjusted basis in the units. Net capital losses only offset capital gains and, in the case of individuals, up to $3,000 of ordinary income per year. In the taxable period in which a unitholder sells its units, such unitholder may recognize ordinary income from our allocations of income and gain to such unitholder prior to the sale and from recapture items that generally cannot be offset by any capital loss recognized on the sale of units.

Our ability to deduct interest paid or accrued on indebtedness properly allocable to a trade or business ("business interest") may be limited in certain circumstances. Generally, our deduction for business interest is limited to the sum of our business interest income and 30% of our "adjusted taxable income." For the purposes of this limitation, our adjusted taxable income is computed without regard to any business interest expense or business interest income. Our "business interest" has been subject to limitation under these rules in prior tax years, and may be subject to limitations in the future. As a result, our unitholders may be subject to limitation on their ability to deduct interest expense incurred by us and allocated to them. In certain circumstances, a unitholder may be able to utilize a portion of a business interest deduction subject to this limitation in future taxable years. Unitholders should consult their tax advisors regarding the impact of this business interest deduction limitation on an investment in our units.

Investment in our common units by tax-exempt entities, such as employee benefit plans and individual retirement accounts ("IRAs") raises issues unique to them. For example, virtually all of our income allocated to organizations that are exempt from U.S. federal income tax, including IRAs and other retirement plans, will be unrelated business taxable income and will be taxable to them. Tax-exempt entities should consult a tax advisor before investing in our common units.

Non-U.S. unitholders generally are taxed and subject to income tax filing requirements by the U.S. on income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business ("effectively connected income"). A unitholder's share of our income, gain, loss, and deduction, and any gain from the sale of our units generally will be considered effectively connected income. As a result, distributions to a non-U.S. unitholder will be subject to withholding at the highest applicable effective tax rate and a non-U.S. unitholder who sells or otherwise disposes of a unit also will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the gain realized from the sale or disposition of that unit. In addition to the withholding tax imposed on distributions of effectively connected income, distributions to a non-U.S. unitholder also will be subject to a 10% withholding tax on the amount of any distribution in excess of our cumulative net income. We intend to treat all of our distributions as being in excess of our cumulative net income for such purposes and subject to such 10% withholding tax. Accordingly, distributions to a non-U.S. unitholder will be subject to a combined withholding tax rate equal to the sum of the highest applicable effective tax rate and 10%. Moreover, upon the sale, exchange, or other disposition of a unit by a non-U.S. unitholder, the transferee generally is required to withhold 10% of the amount realized on such transfer if any portion of the gain on such transfer would be treated as effectively connected income. Treasury regulations provide that the "amount realized" on a transfer of an interest in a publicly traded partnership generally will be the amount of gross proceeds paid to the broker effecting the applicable transfer on behalf of the transferor. For a transfer of an interest in a publicly traded partnership that is effected through a broker, the obligation to withhold is imposed on the transferor's broker. Non-U.S. unitholders should consult their tax advisors regarding the impact of these rules on an investment in our units.

Because we cannot match transferors and transferees of common units, we have adopted certain methods for allocating depreciation and amortization deductions that may not conform to all aspects of existing Treasury Regulations. A successful IRS challenge to the use of these methods could adversely affect the amount of tax benefits available to you. It also could affect the timing of these tax benefits or the amount of gain from your sale of common units and could have a negative impact on the value of our common units or result in audit adjustments to your tax returns.

Because there are no specific rules governing the federal income tax consequences of loaning a partnership interest, a unitholder whose common units are the subject of a securities loan may be considered to have disposed of the loaned common units. In that case, the unitholder may no longer be treated for federal income tax purposes as a partner with respect to those common units during the period of the loan to the short seller and the unitholder may recognize gain or loss on such disposition. Moreover, during the period of the loan, any of our income, gain, loss, or deduction with respect to those common units may not be reportable by the unitholder and any cash distributions received by the unitholder as to those common units could be fully taxable as ordinary income. Unitholders desiring to assure their status as partners and avoid the risk of gain recognition from a securities loan are urged to consult a tax advisor to determine whether it is advisable to modify any applicable brokerage account agreements to prohibit their brokers from borrowing their common units.

In determining the items of income, gain, loss, and deduction allocable to our unitholders, we must routinely determine the fair market value of our assets. Although we may from time to time consult with professional appraisers regarding valuation matters, we make many fair market value estimates using a methodology based on the market value of our common units as a means to measure the fair market value of our assets. The IRS may challenge these valuation methods and the resulting allocations of income, gain, loss, and deduction. A successful IRS challenge to these methods or allocations could adversely affect the timing or amount of taxable income or loss being allocated to our unitholders. It also could affect the amount of gain recognized from our unitholders' sale of common units, have a negative impact on the value of the common units, or result in audit adjustments to our unitholders' tax returns without the benefit of additional deductions.