IEO vs OIH

IEOBiShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF

OIHBVanEck Oil Services ETF

In short

IEO One of the original ways to own U.S. upstream energy: since 2006 this iShares fund has tracked a single index of about 50 American oil and gas exploration and production stocks. Pure upstream, pure U.S.

OIH OIH skips the barrels and buys the picks and shovels: the drillers, equipment makers and service crews that get paid to punch holes in the ground. Roughly two dozen U.S.-listed names, running since 2011, priced below the energy-fund norm.

Stated mandate

IEO The Fund seeks to track an index of U.S. equities in the oil and gas exploration and production sector. It uses a sampling-based indexing approach and normally invests at least 80% of net assets in components of the Underlying Index.

OIH The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of an index representing U.S.-listed companies involved in upstream oil services, including oil equipment, oil services, and oil drilling.

Why people hold it

• IEO Tight mandate: at least 80% of net assets sit in components of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Oil Exploration & Production Index. Upstream U.S. energy, not a mixed energy basket.ishares.com
• About 50 holdings: concentrated enough to move with drilling economics, broad enough that one blown-up producer is not the whole story.
• Trading since 2006, so its index record spans multiple oil cycles, with the iShares platform running the plumbing.
• Producer dividends are passed along on a quarterly schedule.

• OIH Owns the toolmakers, not the oil: upstream equipment, services and drilling companies. A different engine than a fund stuffed with producers.vaneck.com
• 0.35% a year, a shade under the typical fee in its energy cohort and level with XOP, the broad exploration-and-production alternative.
• A billion-dollar-plus fund whose trading quality rates among the best in its energy peer group, so getting in and out is rarely the expensive part.
• The lineup comes from a published rulebook, the MVIS US Listed Oil Services 25 Index, not a manager's hunch about which driller wins next.vaneck.com

Worth knowing

• IEO The 0.37% fee sits right at the middle of the E&P shelf: XOP and OIH charge 0.35%, PBOG 0.13%.
• One country, one sector, about 50 stocks. Crude and gas price swings pass straight through to the portfolio.
• Moderately traded rather than the busiest ticker in the category, which can matter on larger orders.

• OIH Roughly two dozen stocks in one slice of one sector. That concentration cuts both ways and makes this the jumpier end of energy.
• You own contractors, not reserves. Their sales track what customers spend on drilling, which is a step removed from the oil price itself.vaneck.com
• Cash comes back once or twice a year at most, so income is a byproduct of the strategy rather than the point of it.

Full IEO profile⁠

Full OIH profile⁠