Oil & Natural Gas Limited Partnerships is one of the more longer term investments that are Direct Participation Programs. These investments tend to have higher annual rates of returns but have investment time frames of up to 30 years. This is why these investments can be named "generational".

There are typically two types of Oil & Natural Gas Limited Partnerships. Income Programs target existing wells that are already in production and are returning income. This is the more conservative investment of the two. The Oil/Natural Gas speculative programs identify geographic locations which may have natural resources available for drilling. With the speculation, clearly this investment is the riskier of the two but can have the higher rates of return if the Oil or Natural Gas is found and is recoverable.

Both options may have beneficial tax treatments with intangible drilling cost or depletion situations. Each investment situation is different and should be reviewed specifically for the details and the tax implications.