TPYP vs XOP

TPYPCTortoise North American Pipeline ETF

XOPAState Street SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF

In short

TPYP Most energy ETFs chase drilling. TPYP buys the plumbing: roughly 60 US and Canadian pipeline and midstream companies, tracked through a Tortoise index, in a plain 1940 Act fund that sends a 1099 instead of a partnership K-1.

XOP Most oil funds lean hard on a couple of supermajors. XOP goes the other way: a modified equal-weighted basket of roughly 50 drillers, refiners and producers, reset every quarter, so a small-cap operator can count about as much as a giant. Running since 2006.

Stated mandate

TPYP The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and total-return performance of the Tortoise North American Pipeline Index.

XOP The fund seeks, before fees and expenses, to track the total return performance of the S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index.

Why people hold it

• TPYP Owns the plumbing rather than the drill bits: roughly 60 pipeline and midstream names across the US and Canada, in one ticker.
• Built as a 1940 Act registered fund, so shareholders get a 1099 at tax time instead of the partnership K-1 that comes with owning MLPs directly.
• Trading since 2015 with a mid-size asset base, and it distributes on a quarterly schedule.

• XOP Modified equal weighting, reset quarterly, means no single supermajor dominates and large, mid and small-cap names sit side by side.ssga.comspglobal.com
• A 0.35% expense ratio, below the typical charge among oil and gas E&P peers.
• Actively traded, and one of the smoother tickers to get into and out of in the energy aisle.
• Wider net than the name suggests: the index also reaches integrated oil and gas plus refining and marketing companies, not just pure explorers.ssga.com

Worth knowing

• TPYP The 0.40% fee sits a shade above the typical fund in its energy cohort and well above the cheapest name there, PBOG at 0.13%.
• The benchmark is Tortoise's own North American Pipeline Index, so the fund and the rulebook it follows come from the same house.
• One sector, two countries: energy infrastructure in the US and Canada, with Canadian holdings adding currency exposure.

• XOP Equal weighting lifts smaller drillers in the mix, so swings in both directions tend to run sharper than in cap-weighted energy funds.ssga.com
• One industry, one commodity complex: this rides crude and natural gas, with about 50 holdings and no ballast from outside the patch.
• Cheaper shelfmates exist. Peer PBOG lists a 0.13% expense ratio, though it tracks a different index and a different mix of names.

Full TPYP profile⁠

Full XOP profile⁠