As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 30, 2018

Registration No. 333-                    

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-3

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Viper Energy Partners LP

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

500 West Texas Avenue

Suite 1200

Midland, Texas 79701

(432) 221-7400

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

Teresa L. Dick

Chief Financial Officer

Viper Energy Partners LP

9400 North Broadway

Suite 700

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73114

(405) 463-6900

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copy to:

Seth R. Molay, P.C.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

1700 Pacific Avenue, Suite 4100

Dallas, Texas 75201

Tel: (214) 969-4780

Fax: (214) 969-4343

Approximate Date of Commencement of Proposed Sale to the Public: From time to time after the registration statement becomes effective.

If the only securities being registered on this form are being offered pursuant to dividend or interest reinvestment plans, please check the following box.  ☐

If any of the securities being registered on this form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, other than securities offered only in connection with dividend or interest reinvestment plans, check the following box.  ☒

If this form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

If this form is a registration statement pursuant to General Instruction I.D. or a post-effective amendment thereto that shall become effective upon filing with the Commission pursuant to Rule 462(e) under the Securities Act, check the following box.  ☒

If this form is a post-effective amendment to a registration statement filed pursuant to General Instruction I.D. filed to register additional securities or additional classes of securities pursuant to Rule 413(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  ☒

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

Prospectus

Viper Energy Partners LP

Common Units

This prospectus relates to:

This prospectus may also be used by other selling unitholders that will be identified in an applicable prospectus supplement in connection with resales, from time to time in one or more offerings, of our common units held by such other selling unitholders as described in the applicable prospectus supplement. See “Plan of Distribution – Sales by Other Selling Unitholders.”

We or the selling unitholders may from time to time, in one or more offerings, offer and sell these securities through ordinary brokerage transactions, directly to market makers or through any other means described in the section of this prospectus entitled “Plan of Distribution,” including through sales to underwriters or dealers (in which case this prospectus will be accompanied by a prospectus supplement listing any underwriters, the compensation to be received by the underwriters, and the total amount of money that we or the selling unitholders will receive in such sale after expenses of the offering are paid).

We or the selling unitholders may elect to sell all, a portion or none of the securities offered hereby. We or the selling unitholders will determine the prices and terms of the sales at the time of each offering made by us or it. We will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of common units by the selling unitholders pursuant to this prospectus.

This prospectus describes only the general terms of these securities and the general manner in which we or the selling unitholders will offer the securities. The specific terms of any securities we or the selling unitholders offer will be included in a supplement to this prospectus. The prospectus supplement will describe the specific manner in which we or the selling unitholders will offer the securities and also may add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. In making offers and sales pursuant to this prospectus, the selling unitholders are deemed to be acting as an underwriter, and their offers and sales are deemed to be made indirectly on our behalf. For a more detailed discussion of the selling unitholder, please read “Selling Unitholders.”

Our common units are traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the trading symbol “VNOM.”

You should read this prospectus and any prospectus supplement carefully before you invest. You should also read the documents we refer to in the “Where You Can Find More Information” section of this prospectus for information on us and our financial statements.

Investing in our securities involves risks. Limited partnerships are inherently different from corporations. You should carefully consider the Risk Factors beginning on page 2 of this prospectus and contained in any applicable prospectus supplement and in the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein before you make an investment in our securities.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The date of this prospectus is July 30, 2018.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

You should rely only on the information contained in or incorporated by reference into this prospectus or any prospectus supplement. We and the selling unitholders have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. This prospectus and any prospectus supplement are not an offer to sell, nor a solicitation of an offer to buy, these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should not assume that the information incorporated by reference or provided in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of each such document, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of a security. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus, including any information incorporated by reference herein, is part of a registration statement on Form S-3 that we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, using a “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf registration process, we may, from time to time, offer and sell, in one or more offerings, common units of Viper Energy Partners LP or the selling unitholder may, from time to time, offer and sell, in one or more offerings, up to 56,084,847 common units of Viper Energy Partners LP. This prospectus may also be used by other selling unitholders that will be identified in an applicable prospectus supplement in connection with resales, from time to time in one or more offerings, of our common units held by such other selling unitholders as described in the applicable prospectus supplement. See “Plan of Distribution – Sales by Other Selling Unitholders.” This prospectus provides you with a general description of us and the securities offered under this prospectus.

Each time we or the selling unitholders sell securities with this prospectus, to the extent required, we will provide you with a prospectus supplement containing specific information about the terms of a particular offering. A prospectus supplement may also add to, update or change information in this prospectus. You should read this prospectus and any prospectus supplement carefully before you invest. If there is any inconsistency between the information in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement, you should rely on the information in the prospectus supplement. You should read carefully this prospectus, any prospectus supplement and the additional information described under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information.”

This prospectus contains summaries of certain provisions contained in some of the documents described herein, but reference is made to the actual documents for complete information. All of the summaries are qualified in their entirety by reference to the actual documents. Copies of some of the documents referred to herein have been filed or will be filed or incorporated by reference as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and you may obtain copies of those documents as described under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information.”

Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this prospectus to (i) “Viper Energy Partners LP,” “the partnership,” “we,” “our,” “us” or like terms refer collectively to Viper Energy Partners LP and its subsidiaries, (ii) our “general partner” refers to Viper Energy Partners GP LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Diamondback Energy, Inc., (iii) “Operating Company” or “OpCo” refers to Viper Energy Partners LLC and (iv) “Diamondback” refers collectively to Diamondback Energy, Inc. and its subsidiaries other than the partnership and its subsidiaries.

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WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

We have filed a registration statement with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, that registers the securities covered by this prospectus. The registration statement, including the exhibits attached thereto and incorporated by reference therein, contains additional relevant information about us. In addition, we file annual, quarterly and other reports and other information with the SEC. You may read and copy documents we file at the SEC’s public reference room at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for information on the operation of the SEC’s public reference room. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” the information we have filed with the SEC. This means that we can disclose important information to you without actually including the specific information in this prospectus by referring you to other documents filed separately with the SEC. The information incorporated by reference is an important part of this prospectus. Information that we later provide to the SEC, and which is deemed to be “filed” with the SEC, will automatically update information previously filed with the SEC, and may replace information in this prospectus and information previously filed with the SEC.

We incorporate by reference the documents listed below and any filings we make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14, or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act (excluding information deemed to be furnished and not filed with the SEC), after the date on which such registration statement was initially filed with the SEC until all offerings under the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part are completed or terminated:

These reports contain important information about us, our financial condition and our results of operations.

We make available free of charge on or through our website, www.viperenergy.com, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. We make our website content available for information purposes only. Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus and does not constitute a part of this prospectus.

You may obtain copies of any of the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus from the SEC through the SEC’s website at the address provided above. You also may request a copy of any document incorporated by reference in this prospectus (including exhibits to those documents specifically incorporated by reference in this prospectus), at no cost, by visiting our website at www. viperenergy.com, or by writing or calling us at the following address.

Investor Relations

Viper Energy Partners LP

500 West Texas Avenue, Suite 1200

Midland, Texas 79701

(432) 221-7430

ir@viperenergy.com

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Various statements contained in this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus that express a belief, expectation, or intention, or that are not statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, regarding our strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. When used in this prospectus, the words “could,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “may,” “continue,” “predict,” “potential,” “project,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. In particular, the factors discussed in this prospectus and in the documents incorporated by reference herein, including those detailed under “Risk Factors,” could affect our actual results and cause our actual results to differ materially from expectations, estimates or assumptions expressed, forecasted or implied in such forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements may include statements about:

All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks,

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uncertainties and assumptions. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. Although we believe that our plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements we make in this prospectus are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these plans, intentions or expectations will be achieved or occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements.

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ABOUT VIPER ENERGY PARTNERS LP

We are a publicly traded Delaware limited partnership formed by Diamondback on February 27, 2014 to, among other things, own, acquire and exploit oil and natural gas properties in North America. Our assets consist primarily of mineral interests underlying oil and natural gas properties principally located in the Permian Basin of West Texas.

We are managed and operated by the board of directors and executive officers of our general partner. Diamondback owns and controls our general partner and, as of July 15, 2018, owned approximately 64% of our outstanding units.

On May 10, 2018, we elected to change our federal income tax status from that of a pass-through entity to that of a taxable entity via a “check the box” election, which we refer to as the Tax Election. In connection with making the Tax Election, we entered into a series of transactions, which we refer to as the Recapitalization Transactions, and which are further described in our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 15, 2018, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Our principal executive offices are located at 500 West Texas Avenue, Suite 1200, Midland, Texas 79701, and our telephone number is (432) 221-7400. Our website is located at www.viperenergy.com. We make our periodic reports and other information filed with or furnished to the SEC available, free of charge, through our website, as soon as reasonably practicable after those reports and other information are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. Information on, or connected to, our website is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus and does not constitute a part of this prospectus.

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RISK FACTORS

Limited partner interests are inherently different from the capital stock of a corporation, although many of the business risks to which we are subject are similar to those that would be faced by a corporation engaged in a similar business. Before you invest in our securities, you should carefully consider the risk factors below, as well as those included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K (except as described therein under “Risks Related to Recently Enacted U.S. Tax Legislation and Tax Risks to Common Unitholders”), Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K that are incorporated herein by reference and those that may be included in the applicable prospectus supplement, together with all of the other information included in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement and the documents we incorporate by reference herein or therein. Due to the change in our federal income tax status, the risks described under “Risks Related to Recently Enacted U.S. Tax Legislation and Tax Risks to Common Unitholders” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K are no longer applicable to an investment in our common units.

If any of the risks discussed in the foregoing documents were actually to occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flow could be materially adversely affected. In that case, our ability to make distributions to our unitholders may be reduced, the trading price of our securities could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Inherent in an Investment in Us

Diamondback owns and controls our general partner, which has sole responsibility for conducting our business and managing our operations. Our general partner and its affiliates, including Diamondback, have conflicts of interest with us and limited duties, and they may favor their own interests to the detriment of us and our unitholders.

Diamondback owns and controls our general partner and appoints all of the directors of our general partner. All of the executive officers and certain of the directors of our general partner are also officers and/or directors of Diamondback. Although our general partner has a duty to manage us in a manner that it believes is not adverse to our interest, the executive officers and directors of our general partner have a fiduciary duty to manage our general partner in a manner beneficial to Diamondback. Therefore, conflicts of interest may arise between Diamondback or any of its affiliates, including our general partner, on the one hand, and us or any of our unitholders, on the other hand. In resolving these conflicts of interest, our general partner may favor its own interests and the interests of its affiliates over the interests of our common unitholders. These conflicts include the following situations, among others:

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In addition, Diamondback or its affiliates may compete with us.

The board of directors of our general partner has adopted a policy pursuant to which the Operating Company will distribute all of the available cash it generates each quarter and we, in turn, will distribute all of the available cash we receive from the Operating Company to our common unitholders. This policy could limit our ability to grow and make acquisitions.

As a result of our cash distribution policy, we have limited cash available to reinvest in our business or to fund acquisitions, and we will rely primarily upon external financing sources, including commercial bank borrowings and the issuance of debt and equity securities, to fund our acquisitions and growth capital expenditures. As such, to the extent we are unable to finance growth externally, our distribution policy will significantly impair our ability to grow.

To the extent we issue additional units in connection with any acquisitions or growth capital expenditures or as in-kind distributions, the payment of distributions on those additional units may increase the risk that we will be unable to maintain or increase our per unit distribution level. There are no limitations in our partnership agreement on our ability to issue additional units, including units ranking senior to the common units. The incurrence of commercial borrowings or other debt to finance our growth strategy would result in increased interest expense, which, in turn, would reduce the available cash that we have to distribute to our unitholders. Further, following the Tax Election on May 10, 2018, available cash for each quarter will also be reduced for cash needed for income taxes payable by us, if any.

Neither we nor our general partner have any employees, and we rely solely on the employees of Diamondback to manage our business. The management team of Diamondback, which includes the individuals who manage us, also perform similar services for Diamondback and own and operate Diamondback’s assets, and thus are not solely focused on our business.

Neither we nor our general partner have any employees and we rely solely on Diamondback to operate our assets and perform other management, administrative and operating services for us and our general partner. Diamondback provides similar activities with respect to its own assets and operations. Because Diamondback provides services to us that are similar to those performed for itself, Diamondback may not have sufficient human, technical and other resources to provide those services at a level that Diamondback would be able to provide to us if it were solely focused on our business and operations. Diamondback may make internal decisions on how to allocate its available resources and expertise that may not always be in our best interest compared to Diamondback’s interests. There is no requirement that Diamondback favor us over itself in providing its services. If the employees of Diamondback and their affiliates do not devote sufficient attention to the management and operation of our business, our financial results may suffer and our ability to make distributions to our unitholders may be reduced.

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Our partnership agreement replaces our general partner’s fiduciary duties to our unitholders.

Our partnership agreement contains provisions that eliminate and replace the fiduciary standards to which our general partner would otherwise be held by state fiduciary duty law. For example, our partnership agreement permits our general partner to make a number of decisions in its individual capacity, as opposed to in its capacity as our general partner, or otherwise free of fiduciary duties to us and our unitholders. This entitles our general partner to consider only the interests and factors that it desires and relieves it of any duty or obligation to give any consideration to any interest of, or factors affecting, us, our affiliates or our limited partners. Examples of decisions that our general partner may make in its individual capacity include:

By purchasing a common unit, a unitholder is treated as having consented to the provisions in the partnership agreement, including the provisions discussed above.

Our partnership agreement restricts the remedies available to holders of our units for actions taken by our general partner that might otherwise constitute breaches of fiduciary duty.

Our partnership agreement contains provisions that restrict the remedies available to unitholders for actions taken by our general partner that might otherwise constitute breaches of fiduciary duty under state fiduciary duty law. For example, our partnership agreement provides that:

In connection with a situation involving a transaction with an affiliate or a conflict of interest, other than one where our general partner is permitted to act in its sole discretion, any determination by our 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 unitholders or the conflicts committee then it will be presumed that, in making its decision, taking any action or

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failing to act, the board of directors acted in good faith, and in any proceeding brought by or on behalf of any limited partner or the partnership, the person bringing or prosecuting such proceeding will have the burden of overcoming such presumption.

Diamondback and other affiliates of our general partner may compete with us.

Our partnership agreement provides that our general partner is restricted from engaging in any business activities other than acting as our general partner, engaging in activities incidental to its ownership interest in us and providing management, advisory and administrative services to its affiliates or to other persons. However, affiliates of our general partner, including Diamondback, are not prohibited from engaging in other businesses or activities, including those that might be in direct competition with us. In addition, Diamondback may compete with us for investment opportunities and may own an interest in entities that compete with us. Further, Diamondback and its affiliates, may acquire, develop or dispose of additional oil and natural gas properties or other assets in the future, without any obligation to offer us the opportunity to purchase or develop any of those assets.

Diamondback is an established participant in the oil and natural gas industry and has resources greater than ours, which factors may make it more difficult for us to compete with Diamondback with respect to commercial activities as well as for potential acquisitions. As a result, competition from Diamondback and its affiliates could adversely impact our results of operations and cash available for distribution to our common unitholders.

Pursuant to the terms of our partnership agreement, the doctrine of corporate opportunity, or any analogous doctrine, does not apply to our general partner or any of its affiliates, including its executive officers and directors, and Diamondback. Any such person or entity that becomes aware of a potential transaction, agreement, arrangement or other matter that may be an opportunity for us will not have any duty to communicate or offer such opportunity to us. Any such person or entity will not be liable to us or to any limited partner for breach of any fiduciary duty or other duty by reason of the fact that such person or entity pursues or acquires such opportunity for itself, directs such opportunity to another person or entity or does not communicate such opportunity or information to us. This may create actual and potential conflicts of interest between us and affiliates of our general partner and result in less than favorable treatment of us and our unitholders.

Holders of our units have limited voting rights and are not entitled to elect our general partner or its directors, which could reduce the price at which our common units will trade.

Unlike the holders of common stock in a corporation, unitholders have only limited voting rights on matters affecting our business and, therefore, limited ability to influence management’s decisions regarding our business. Unitholders have no right on an annual or ongoing basis to elect our general partner or its board of directors. The board of directors of our general partner, including the independent directors, is chosen entirely by Diamondback, as a result of it owning our general partner, and not by our unitholders. Unlike publicly traded corporations, we do not conduct annual meetings of our unitholders to elect directors or conduct other matters routinely conducted at annual meetings of stockholders of corporations. As a result of these limitations, the price at which the common units will trade could be diminished because of the absence or reduction of a takeover premium in the trading price.

Even if holders of our units are dissatisfied, they cannot initially remove our general partner without its consent.

If our unitholders are dissatisfied with the performance of our general partner, they have limited ability to remove our general partner. Unitholders will be unable to remove our general partner without its consent because affiliates of our general partner own sufficient units to be able to prevent its removal. The vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of all outstanding units, voting as a single class, is required to remove our general partner. As of July 15, 2018, Diamondback owned approximately 64% of our outstanding units.

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Our partnership agreement restricts the voting rights of unitholders owning 20% or more of our units (other than our general partner and its affiliates and permitted transferees).

Our partnership agreement restricts unitholders’ voting rights by providing that any units held by a person that owns 20% or more of any class of units then outstanding, other than our general partner, its affiliates, their transferees and persons who acquired such units with the prior approval of the board of directors of our general partner, may not vote on any matter. Our partnership agreement also contains provisions limiting the ability of unitholders to call meetings or to acquire information about our operations, as well as other provisions limiting the ability of our unitholders to influence the manner or direction of management.

Cost reimbursements due to our general partner and its affiliates for services provided to us or on our behalf will reduce cash available for distribution to our common unitholders. There is no limit on the amount of expenses for which our general partner and its affiliates may be reimbursed. The amount and timing of such reimbursements will be determined by our general partner.

Prior to making any distribution to its unitholders, including us, the Operating Company will reimburse our general partner and its affiliates for all expenses they incur and payments they make on our behalf. There is no limit on the amount of expenses for which our general partner and its affiliates may be reimbursed. These expenses include salary, bonus, incentive compensation and other amounts paid to persons who perform services for us or on our behalf and expenses allocated to our general partner by its affiliates. Our general partner will determine the expenses that are allocable to us. The reimbursement of expenses and payment of fees, if any, to our general partner and its affiliates will reduce the amount of cash available for distribution from the Operating Company to us and from us to our common unitholders.

At the time of our initial public offering, or the IPO, we and our general partner entered into an advisory services agreement with Wexford Capital LP, or Wexford Capital, pursuant to which Wexford Capital agreed to provide general finance and advisory services. Any fee paid would reduce the amount of cash available for distribution from the Operating Company to us and from us to our common unitholders. We paid no amounts to Wexford Capital under the advisory services agreement during 2016 and 2017. In addition, we have entered into a tax sharing agreement with Diamondback pursuant to which we are required to reimburse Diamondback for our share of state and local income and other taxes borne by Diamondback as a result of our results being included in a combined or consolidated tax return filed by Diamondback with respect to taxable periods including or beginning on the closing date of our IPO. No amounts have been paid to Diamondback under the tax sharing agreement.

Our general partner interest or the control of our general partner may be transferred to a third party without unitholder consent.

Our general partner may transfer its general partner interest to a third party without the consent of our unitholders. Furthermore, our partnership agreement does not restrict the ability of the owner of our general partner to transfer its membership interests in our general partner to a third party. After any such transfer, the new member or members of our general partner would then be in a position to replace the board of directors and executive officers of our general partner with its own designees and thereby exert significant control over the decisions taken by the board of directors and executive officers of our general partner. This effectively permits a “change of control” without the vote or consent of the unitholders.

Common unitholders may have liability to repay distributions and in certain circumstances may be personally liable for the obligations of the partnership.

Under certain circumstances, common unitholders may have to repay amounts wrongfully returned or distributed to them. Under Section 17-607 of the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act, or the Delaware Act, we may not make a distribution to our common unitholders if the distribution would cause our

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liabilities to exceed the fair value of our assets. Delaware law provides that for a period of three years from the date of the 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 partnership interests and liabilities that are non-recourse to the partnership are not counted for purposes of determining whether a distribution is permitted.

A limited partner that participates in the control of our business within the meaning of the Delaware Act may be held personally liable for our obligations under the laws of Delaware, to the same extent as our general partner. This liability would extend to persons who transact business with us under the reasonable belief that the limited partner is a general partner. Neither our partnership agreement nor the Delaware Act specifically provides for legal recourse against our general partner if a limited partner were to lose limited liability through any fault of our general partner.

Our general partner has a call right that may require unitholders to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price.

If at any time our general partner and its affiliates (including Diamondback) own more than 80% of the units, our general partner will have the right, which it may assign to any of its affiliates or to us, but not the obligation, to acquire all, but not less than all, of the common units held by unaffiliated persons at a price equal to the greater of (1) the average of the daily closing price of the common units over the 20 trading days preceding the date three days before notice of exercise of the call right is first mailed and (2) the highest per-unit price paid by our general partner or any of its affiliates for common units during the 90-day period preceding the date such notice is first mailed. As a result, unitholders may be required to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price and may not receive any return or a negative return on their investment. Unitholders may also incur a tax liability upon a sale of their units. Our general partner is not obligated to obtain a fairness opinion regarding the value of the common units to be repurchased by it upon exercise of the limited call right. There is no restriction in our partnership agreement that prevents our general partner from causing us to issue additional common units and then exercising its call right. If our general partner exercised its limited call right, the effect would be to take us private and, if the units were subsequently deregistered, we would no longer be subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. The common units and Class B Units are considered limited partner interests of a single class for these provisions. As of July 15, 2018, Diamondback owned approximately 64% of our outstanding units.

We may issue additional common units and other equity interests without unitholder approval, which would dilute existing unitholder ownership interests.

Under our partnership agreement, we are authorized to issue an unlimited number of additional interests, including common units, without a vote of the unitholders. The issuance by us of additional common units or other equity interests of equal or senior rank will have the following effects:

There are no limitations in our partnership agreement on our ability to issue units ranking senior to the common units.

In accordance with Delaware law and the provisions of our partnership agreement, we may issue additional partnership interests that are senior to the common units in right of distribution, liquidation and voting. The

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issuance by us of units of senior rank may (i) reduce or eliminate the amount of cash available for distribution to our common unitholders; (ii) diminish the relative voting strength of the total common units outstanding as a class; or (iii) subordinate the claims of the common unitholders to our assets in the event of our liquidation.

The market price of our common units could be adversely affected by sales of substantial amounts of our common units in the public or private markets.

As of July 15, 2018, we had 113,889,277 units outstanding, consisting of 41,470,777 common units and 72,418,500 Class B Units. All of the Class B Units are owned by Diamondback and Class B Units must be redeemed (together with an equal number of units of the Operating Company, or OpCo Units) for common units prior to their sale to any person or entity not affiliated with Diamondback. Sales by holders of a substantial number of our common units in the public markets, or the perception that such sales might occur, could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common units or could impair our ability to obtain capital through an offering of equity securities. In addition, we have provided registration rights to Diamondback. Pursuant to these registration rights, we have agreed to register, under the Securities Act, all of the common units owned by Diamondback and its assignees for resale (including common units issuable in respect of the Class B Units and OpCo Units). Under our partnership agreement, our general partner and its affiliates have registration rights relating to the offer and sale of any common units that they hold.

For as long as we are an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with certain disclosure requirements, including those relating to accounting standards and disclosure about our executive compensation and internal control auditing requirements that apply to other public companies.

We are classified as an “emerging growth company” under Section 2(a)(19) of the Securities Act. For as long as we are an emerging growth company, which may be up to five full fiscal years, unlike other public companies, we will not be required to, among other things, (1) provide an auditor’s attestation report on management’s assessment of the effectiveness of our system of internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, (2) comply with any new requirements adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board requiring mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report in which the auditor would be required to provide additional information about the audit and the financial statements of the issuer, (3) comply with any new audit rules adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board after April 5, 2012 unless the SEC determines otherwise or (4) provide certain disclosures regarding executive compensation required of larger public companies.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, current and potential unitholders could lose confidence in our financial reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our units.

Diamondback is a publicly traded corporation and has developed a system of internal controls for compliance with public reporting requirements. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports, prevent fraud and operate successfully as a publicly traded partnership. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our reputation and operating results would be harmed. We cannot be certain that our efforts to maintain our internal controls will be successful, that we will be able to maintain adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future or that we will be able to comply with our obligations under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. For example, Section 404 requires us, among other things, to annually review and report on, and our independent registered public accounting firm to attest to, the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting. Any failure to maintain effective internal controls, or difficulties encountered in implementing or improving our internal controls, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. Ineffective internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our common units.

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Nasdaq does not require a publicly traded partnership like us to comply with certain of its corporate governance requirements.

Our common units are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Because we are a publicly traded partnership, Nasdaq does not require us to have a majority of independent directors on our general partner’s board of directors or to establish a compensation committee or a nominating and corporate governance committee. Accordingly, unitholders do not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of certain corporations that are subject to all of Nasdaq’s corporate governance requirements.

Our partnership agreement includes exclusive forum, venue and jurisdiction provisions. By purchasing a common unit, a limited partner is irrevocably consenting to these provisions regarding claims, suits, actions or proceedings and submitting to the exclusive jurisdiction of Delaware courts. Our partnership agreement also provides that any unitholder bringing an unsuccessful action will be obligated to reimburse us for any costs we have incurred in connection with such unsuccessful action.

Our partnership agreement is governed by Delaware law. Our partnership agreement includes exclusive forum, venue and jurisdiction provisions designating Delaware courts as the exclusive venue for most claims, suits, actions and proceedings involving us or our officers, directors and employees. In addition, if any person brings any of the aforementioned claims, suits, actions or proceedings and such person does not obtain a judgment on the merits that substantially achieves, in substance and amount, the full remedy sought, then such person shall be obligated to reimburse us and our affiliates for all fees, costs and expenses of every kind and description, including but not limited to all reasonable attorneys’ fees and other litigation expenses, that the parties may incur in connection with such claim, suit, action or proceeding. By purchasing a common unit, a limited partner is irrevocably consenting to these limitations and provisions regarding claims, suits, actions or proceedings and submitting to the exclusive jurisdiction of Delaware courts. If a dispute were to arise between a limited partner and us or our officers, directors or employees, the limited partner may be required to pursue its legal remedies in Delaware which may be an inconvenient or distant location and which is considered to be a more corporate-friendly environment. These provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against us and our general partner’s directors and officers.

Our general partner may amend our partnership agreement, as it determines necessary or advisable, to permit the general partner to redeem the units of certain unitholders.

Our general partner may amend our partnership agreement, as it determines necessary or advisable, to obtain proof of the U.S. federal income tax status and/or the nationality, citizenship or other related status of our limited partners (and their owners, to the extent relevant) and to permit our general partner to redeem the units held by any person (i) whose tax status has or is reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on the maximum applicable rates chargeable to our customers, (ii) whose nationality, citizenship or related status creates substantial risk of cancellation or forfeiture of any of our property and/or (iii) who fails to comply with the procedures established to obtain such proof. The redemption price in the case of such a redemption will be the average of the daily closing prices per unit for the 20 consecutive trading days immediately prior to the date set for redemption.

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We are treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes and our cash available for distribution to our unitholders may be substantially reduced.

We are a Delaware limited partnership and, prior to May 10, 2018, we were treated as a pass-through entity for federal income tax purposes. On May 10, 2018, we elected to be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a result, we are now subject to tax as a corporation at the corporate tax rate of 21%. Distributions on our common units will be treated as distributions on corporate stock for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and taxed again as corporate dividends (to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits). While we do not expect to have any taxable income in the next four years due to an agreement between Diamondback and us to specially allocate to Diamondback priority allocations of $300 million of the Operating Company’s income and gains over losses and deductions (but before depletion), there’s no guarantee that we will not have any taxable income as a result of our equity interests in the Operating Company. Because an entity-level tax is imposed on us due to our status as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, our distributable cash flow may be substantially reduced by our tax liabilities.

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USE OF PROCEEDS

Except as otherwise provided in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will contribute the net proceeds from any sale of common units by us to the Operating Company in exchange for an equivalent number of OpCo Units. The Operating Company intends to use the net proceeds for general company purposes, which may include repayment of indebtedness, future acquisitions, other capital expenditures and additions to working capital.

Any specific allocation by the Operating Company of the net proceeds of an offering of common units to a specific purpose will be determined at the time of the offering and will be described in a prospectus supplement.

We will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of common units by the selling unitholder identified in this prospectus and, unless otherwise indicated in an applicable prospectus supplement, we will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of common units by any other selling unitholders that may, in the future, be identified in an applicable prospectus supplement.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE UNITS

Common Units and Class B Units

Our common units and Class B Units represent limited partner interests in us. The holders of our common units and Class B Units are entitled to exercise the rights and privileges provided to limited partners under our partnership agreement, but only holders of our common units are entitled to participate in partnership distributions (except to the extent of the cash preferred distributions equal to 8% per annum payable quarterly on the $2.0 million in aggregate capital contributions made to us by Diamondback and our general partner pursuant to the Recapitalization Agreement entered into in connection with the Recapitalization Transaction, which we refer to as the Recapitalization Agreement).

For a description of the relative rights and privileges of holders of our common units to partnership distributions, please read “How We Make Distributions on Our Limited Partnership Interests.” For a description of the rights and privileges of limited partners under our partnership agreement, including voting rights, please read “The Partnership Agreement.” As of July 15, 2018, 41,470,777 common units were outstanding and 72,418,500 Class B Units were outstanding.

Transfer Agent and Registrar

Computershare Trust Company, N.A. serves as registrar and transfer agent for the common units and Class B Units. We pay all fees charged by the transfer agent for transfers of common units and Class B Units, except the following, which must be paid by unitholders:

There is no charge to our common unitholders for disbursements of our quarterly cash distributions. We will indemnify the transfer agent, its agents and each of their stockholders, directors, officers and employees against all claims and losses that may arise out of acts performed or omitted for its activities in that capacity, except for any liability due to any gross negligence or intentional misconduct of the indemnified person or entity.

The transfer agent may resign, by notice to us, or be removed by us. The resignation or removal of the transfer agent will become effective upon our appointment of a successor transfer agent and registrar and its acceptance of the appointment. If a successor has not been appointed or has not accepted its appointment within 30 days after notice of the resignation or removal, our general partner may act as the transfer agent and registrar until a successor is appointed.

Transfer of Common Units and Class B Units

By transfer of our units in accordance with our partnership agreement, each transferee of our common units and Class B Units shall be admitted as a limited partner with respect to the class of units transferred when such transfer and admission are reflected in our books and records. Each transferee:

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Notwithstanding the foregoing, Class B Units, together with an equal number of OpCo Units, can only be transferred to affiliates of Diamondback.

A transferee will become a substituted limited partner of our partnership for the transferred units automatically upon the recording of the transfer on our books and records. Our general partner will cause any transfers to be recorded on our books and records from time to time as necessary to accurately reflect the transfers.

We may, at our discretion, treat the nominee holder of a common unit or Class B Unit, as applicable, as the absolute owner. In that case, the beneficial holder’s rights are limited solely to those that it has against the nominee holder as a result of any agreement between the beneficial owner and the nominee holder.

Common units and Class B Units are securities and are transferable according to the laws governing transfer of securities. In addition to other rights acquired upon transfer, the transferor gives the transferee the right to become a limited partner in our partnership for the transferred common units or Class B Units.

Until a common unit or Class B Unit has been transferred on our books, we and the transfer agent may treat the record holder of the unit as the absolute owner for all purposes, except as otherwise required by law or stock exchange regulations.

Listing

Our common units are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “VNOM.” Our Class B Units are not, and will not be, listed on any securities exchange.

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THE PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

The following is a summary of the material provisions of our partnership agreement. Our partnership agreement is an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part and is incorporated by reference into this prospectus. We will provide investors and prospective investors with a copy of our partnership agreement upon request at no charge.

We summarize the following provisions of our partnership agreement elsewhere in this prospectus:

Organization and Duration

We were organized in February 2014 and will have a perpetual existence unless terminated pursuant to the terms of our partnership agreement.

Purpose

Our purpose, as set forth in our partnership agreement, is limited to any business activity that is approved by our general partner and that lawfully may be conducted by a limited partnership organized under Delaware law.

Although our general partner has the ability to cause us and our subsidiaries to engage in activities other than the business of acquiring and exploiting oil and natural gas properties, our general partner may decline to do so free of any duty or obligation whatsoever to us or the limited partners, including any duty to act in good faith or in the best interests of us or the limited partners. Our general partner is generally authorized to perform all acts it determines to be necessary or appropriate to carry out our purposes and to conduct our business.

Capital Contributions

Unitholders are not obligated to make additional capital contributions, except as described below under “—Limited Liability.”

Voting Rights

The following is a summary of the unitholder vote required for approval of the matters specified below. Matters that call for the approval of a “unit majority” require the approval of a majority of the outstanding common units and the Class B Units, voting together as a single class.

Diamondback has the ability to ensure passage of, as well as the ability to ensure the defeat of, any amendment which requires a unit majority by virtue of its approximately 64% ownership of our units as of July 15, 2018.

In voting their common units or Class B Units, our general partner and its affiliates will have no duty or obligation whatsoever to us or the limited partners, including any duty to act in the best interests of us or the limited partners. The holders of a majority of the common units and Class B Units (including common units or Class B Units deemed owned by our general partner) represented in person or by proxy shall constitute a quorum at a meeting of such unitholders, unless any such action requires approval by holders of a greater percentage of such units in which case the quorum shall be such greater percentage.

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The following is a summary of the vote requirements specified for certain matters under our partnership agreement.

If any person or group other than our general partner and its affiliates acquires beneficial ownership of 20% or more of any class of units, that person or group loses voting rights on all of its units. This loss of voting rights does not apply to any person or group that acquires the units from our general partner or its affiliates and any transferees of that person or group approved by our general partner or to any person or group who acquires the units with the specific prior approval of our general partner.

Class B Units

Diamondback holds the same number of Class B Units and OpCo Units. Each Class B Unit is entitled to one vote on matters that are submitted to our holders of Class B Units for a vote. If at any time Diamondback or any other record holder of one or more Class B Units does not hold an equal number of Class B Units and OpCo Units, we will issue additional Class B Units to such holder or cancel Class B Units held by such holder, as applicable, such that the number of Class B Units held by such holder is equal to the number of OpCo Units held by such holder. Our common units and the Class B Units are treated as a single class on all matters submitted for a vote of our unitholders. Additional limited partner interests having special voting rights could also be issued. Please read “—Issuance of Additional Partnership Interests” below.

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Applicable Law; Forum, Venue and Jurisdiction

Our partnership agreement is governed by Delaware law. Our partnership agreement requires that any claims, suits, actions or proceedings:

shall be exclusively brought in 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), regardless of whether such claims, suits, actions or proceedings sound in contract, tort, fraud or otherwise, are based on common law, statutory, equitable, legal or other grounds, or are derivative or direct claims and irrevocably waives the right to trial by jury.

If any person brings any of the aforementioned claims, suits, actions or proceedings and such person does not obtain a judgment on the merits that substantially achieves, in substance and amount, the full remedy sought, then such person shall be obligated to reimburse us and our affiliates for all fees, costs and expenses of every kind and description, including but not limited to all reasonable attorneys’ fees and other litigation expenses, that the parties may incur in connection with such claim, suit, action or proceeding.

By purchasing a unit, a holder of units is irrevocably consenting to these limitations and provisions regarding claims, suits, actions or proceedings and submitting to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or such other court) in connection with any such claims, suits, actions or proceedings.

Limited Liability

Assuming that a limited partner does not participate in the control of our business within the meaning of the Delaware Act and otherwise acts in conformity with the provisions of the partnership agreement, such limited partner’s liability under the Delaware Act will be limited, subject to possible exceptions, to the amount of capital such limited partner is obligated to contribute to us for its common units plus its share of any undistributed profits and assets. However, if it were determined that the right, or exercise of the right, by the limited partners as a group:

constituted “participation in the control” of our business for the purposes of the Delaware Act, then the limited partners could be held personally liable for our obligations under the laws of Delaware, to the same extent as our general partner. This liability would extend to persons who transact business with us under the reasonable belief that the limited partner is a general partner. Neither our partnership agreement nor the Delaware Act specifically provides for legal recourse against our general partner if a limited partner were to lose limited liability through any fault of our general partner. While this does not mean that a limited partner could not seek legal recourse, we know of no precedent for this type of a claim in Delaware case law.

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Under the Delaware Act, a limited partnership may not make a distribution to a partner if, after the distribution, all liabilities of the limited partnership, other than liabilities to partners on account of their partnership interests and liabilities for which the recourse of creditors is limited to specific property of the partnership, would exceed the fair value of the assets of the limited partnership. For the purpose of determining the fair value of the assets of a limited partnership, the Delaware Act provides that the fair value of property subject to liability for which recourse of creditors is limited shall be included in the assets of the limited partnership only to the extent that the fair value of that property exceeds the nonrecourse liability. The Delaware Act provides that a limited partner who receives a distribution and knew at the time of the distribution that the distribution was in violation of the Delaware Act shall be liable to the limited partnership for the amount of the distribution for three years.

We may have subsidiaries that conduct business in other states or countries in the future. Maintenance of our limited liability as owner of our operating subsidiaries may require compliance with legal requirements in the jurisdictions in which the operating subsidiaries conduct business, including qualifying our subsidiaries to do business there.

Limitations on the liability of members or limited partners for the obligations of a limited liability company or limited partnership have not been clearly established in many jurisdictions. If, by virtue of our ownership interest in our subsidiaries or otherwise, it were determined that we were conducting business in any jurisdiction without compliance with the applicable limited partnership or limited liability company statute, or that the right or exercise of the right by the limited partners as a group to remove or replace our general partner, to approve some amendments to our partnership agreement, or to take other action under our partnership agreement constituted “participation in the control” of our business for purposes of the statutes of any relevant jurisdiction, then the limited partners could be held personally liable for our obligations under the law of that jurisdiction to the same extent as our general partner under the circumstances. We will operate in a manner that our general partner considers reasonable and necessary or appropriate to preserve the limited liability of the limited partners.

Issuance of Additional Partnership Interests

Our partnership agreement authorizes us to issue an unlimited number of additional partnership interests for the consideration and on the terms and conditions determined by our general partner without the approval of the unitholders. However, subject to certain limited exceptions, we will not issue any additional common units unless we contribute the net cash proceeds or other consideration received from the issuance of such additional common units to the Operating Company in exchange for an equivalent number of OpCo Units.

It is likely that we will fund acquisitions through the issuance of additional common units or other partnership interests. Holders of any additional common units we issue will be entitled to share equally with the then-existing common unitholders in our distributions. In addition, the issuance of additional common units or other partnership interests may dilute the value of the interests of the then-existing common unitholders in our net assets.

In accordance with Delaware law and the provisions of our partnership agreement, we may also issue additional partnership interests that, as determined by our general partner, may have rights to distributions or special voting rights to which the common units are not entitled. In addition, our partnership agreement does not prohibit our subsidiaries from issuing equity interests, which may effectively rank senior to the common units.

Our general partner has the right, which it may from time to time assign in whole or in part to any of its affiliates, to purchase common units, whenever, and on the same terms that, we issue those interests to persons other than our general partner and its affiliates, to the extent necessary to maintain the percentage interest of our general partner and its affiliates, including such interest represented by common units, that existed immediately prior to each issuance. The common unitholders do not have preemptive rights under our partnership agreement to acquire additional common units or other partnership interests.

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Amendment of the Partnership Agreement

General

Amendments to our partnership agreement may be proposed only by our general partner. However, our general partner has no duty or obligation to propose any amendment and may decline to do so free of any duty or obligation whatsoever to us or the limited partners, including any duty to act in a manner not adverse to us or the limited partners. In order to adopt a proposed amendment, other than the amendments discussed below, our general partner is required to seek written approval of the holders of the number of units required to approve the amendment or to call a meeting of the limited partners to consider and vote upon the proposed amendment. Except as described below, an amendment must be approved by a unit majority.

Prohibited Amendments

No amendment may be made that would:

The provision of our partnership agreement preventing the amendments having the effects described in the clauses above can be amended upon the approval of the holders of at least 90% of the outstanding units, voting as a single class (including units owned by our general partner and its affiliates).

No Unitholder Approval

Our general partner may generally make amendments to our partnership agreement without the approval of any limited partner to reflect:

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In addition, our general partner may make amendments to our partnership agreement, without the approval of any limited partner, if our general partner determines that those amendments:

Opinion of Counsel and Unitholder Approval

Any amendment that our general partner determines adversely affects in any material respect one or more particular classes of limited partners, and is not permitted to be adopted by our general partner without limited partner approval, will require the approval of at least a majority of the class or classes so affected, but no vote will be required by any class or classes of limited partners that our general partner determines are not adversely affected in any material respect. Any such amendment that would have a material adverse effect on the rights or preferences of any type or class of outstanding units in relation to other classes of units will require the approval of at least a majority of the type or class of units so affected. Any such amendment that would reduce the voting percentage required to take any action other than to remove the general partner or call a meeting of unitholders is required to be approved by the affirmative vote of limited partners whose aggregate outstanding common units and Class B Units, voting together as a single class, constitute not less than the voting requirement sought to be reduced. Any such amendment that would increase the percentage of units required to remove the general partner or call a meeting of unitholders must be approved by the affirmative vote of limited partners whose aggregate outstanding units constitute not less than the percentage sought to be increased. For amendments of the type not requiring unitholder approval, our general partner will not be required to obtain an opinion of counsel that an amendment will not result in a loss of limited liability to the limited partners in connection with any of the amendments. No other amendments to our partnership agreement will become effective without the approval of holders of at least 90% of the outstanding units, voting as a single class, unless we first obtain an opinion of counsel to the effect that the amendment will not affect the limited liability under applicable law of any of our limited partners.

Merger, Consolidation, Conversion, Sale or Other Disposition of Assets

A merger, consolidation or conversion of us requires the prior consent of our general partner. However, our general partner has no duty or obligation to consent to any merger, consolidation or conversion and may decline

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to do so free of any duty or obligation whatsoever to us or the limited partners, including any duty to act in the best interest of us or the limited partners.

In addition, our partnership agreement generally prohibits our general partner, without the prior approval of the holders of a unit majority, from causing us to sell, exchange or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets in a single transaction or a series of related transactions, including by way of merger, consolidation or other combination. Our general partner may, however, mortgage, pledge, hypothecate or grant a security interest in all or substantially all of our assets without such approval. Our general partner may also sell all or substantially all of our assets under a foreclosure or other realization upon those encumbrances without such approval. Finally, our general partner may consummate any merger without the prior approval of our unitholders if we are the surviving entity in the transaction, our general partner has received an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability, the transaction would not result in a material amendment to the partnership agreement (other than an amendment that the general partner could adopt without the consent of other partners), each of our units will be an identical unit of our partnership following the transaction and the partnership interests to be issued do not exceed 20% of our outstanding partnership interests immediately prior to the transaction.

If the conditions specified in our partnership agreement are satisfied, our general partner may convert us or any of our subsidiaries into a new limited liability entity or merge us or any of our subsidiaries into, or convey all of our assets to, a newly formed entity, if the sole purpose of that conversion, merger or conveyance is to effect a mere change in our legal form into another limited liability entity, we have received an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters and the governing instruments of the new entity provide the limited partners and our general partner with the same rights and obligations as contained in our partnership agreement. Our unitholders are not entitled to dissenters’ rights of appraisal under our partnership agreement or applicable Delaware law in the event of a conversion, merger or consolidation, a sale of substantially all of our assets or any other similar transaction or event.

Dissolution

We will continue as a limited partnership until dissolved under our partnership agreement. We will dissolve upon:

Upon a dissolution under the last clause above, the holders of a unit majority may also elect, within specific time limitations, to continue our business on the same terms and conditions described in our partnership agreement by appointing as a successor general partner an entity approved by the holders of units representing a unit majority, subject to our receipt of an opinion of counsel to the effect that the action would not result in the loss of limited liability under Delaware law of any limited partner.

Liquidation and Distribution of Proceeds

Upon our dissolution, unless our business is continued, the liquidator authorized to wind up our affairs will, acting with all of the powers of our general partner that are necessary or appropriate, liquidate our assets and

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apply the proceeds of the liquidation as set forth in our partnership agreement. The liquidator may defer liquidation or distribution of our assets for a reasonable period of time or distribute assets to partners in kind if it determines that a sale would be impractical or would cause undue loss to our partners.

Withdrawal or Removal of Our General Partner

Except as described below, our general partner has agreed not to withdraw voluntarily as our general partner prior to June 30, 2024 without obtaining the approval of the holders of at least a majority of the outstanding units, excluding units held by our general partner and its affiliates, and furnishing an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability. On or after June 30, 2024, our general partner may withdraw as general partner without first obtaining approval of any unitholder by giving 90 days’ written notice, and that withdrawal will not constitute a violation of our partnership agreement. Notwithstanding the information above, our general partner may withdraw without unitholder approval upon 90 days’ notice to the limited partners if at least 50% of the outstanding units are held or controlled by one person and its affiliates, other than our general partner and its affiliates. In addition, our partnership agreement permits our general partner, in some instances, to sell or otherwise transfer all of its general partner interest in us without the approval of the unitholders. Please read “—Transfer of General Partner Interest.”

Upon withdrawal of our general partner under any circumstances, other than as a result of a transfer by our general partner of all or a part of its general partner interest in us, the holders of a unit majority may select a successor to that withdrawing general partner. If a successor is not elected, or is elected but an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters cannot be obtained, we will be dissolved, wound up and liquidated, unless within a specified period after that withdrawal, the holders of a unit majority agree in writing to continue our business and to appoint a successor general partner. Please read “—Dissolution.”

Our general partner may not be removed unless that removal is approved by the vote of the holders of not less than 66 2/3% of the outstanding units, voting together as a single class, including units held by our general partner and its affiliates, and we receive an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability. Any removal of our general partner is also subject to the approval of a successor general partner by the vote of the holders of a unit majority. The ownership of more than 33 1/3% of the outstanding units by our general partner and its affiliates gives them the ability to prevent our general partner’s removal. An affiliate of our general partner owns approximately 64% of our outstanding units.

In the event of the removal of our general partner under circumstances where cause exists or withdrawal of our general partner where that withdrawal violates our partnership agreement, a successor general partner will have the option to purchase the general partner interest of the departing general partner and its affiliates for a cash payment equal to the fair market value of those interests. Under all other circumstances where our general partner withdraws or is removed by the limited partners, the departing general partner will have the option to require the successor general partner to purchase the general partner interest of the departing general partner and its affiliates for fair market value. In each case, this fair market value will be determined by agreement between the departing general partner and the successor general partner. If no agreement is reached, an independent investment banking firm or other independent expert selected by the departing general partner and the successor general partner will determine the fair market value. Or, if the departing general partner and the successor general partner cannot agree upon an expert, then an expert chosen by agreement of the experts selected by each of them will determine the fair market value.

If the option described above is not exercised by either the departing general partner or the successor general partner, the departing general partner’s general partner interest will automatically convert into common units equal to the fair market value of those interests as determined by an investment banking firm or other independent expert selected in the manner described in the preceding paragraph. In addition, we will be required to reimburse the departing general partner for all amounts due the departing general partner, including, without limitation, all employee-related liabilities, including severance liabilities, incurred as a result of the termination of any employees employed for our benefit by the departing general partner or its affiliates.

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Transfer of General Partner Interest

At any time, our general partner may transfer all or any of its general partner interest to another person without the approval of any unitholder. As a condition of this transfer, the transferee must, among other things, assume the rights and duties of our general partner, agree to be bound by the provisions of our partnership agreement and furnish an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters.

Transfer of Ownership Interests in the General Partner

At any time, the owner of our general partner may sell or transfer all or part of its ownership interests in our general partner to an affiliate or third party without the approval of our unitholders.

Change of Management Provisions

Our partnership agreement contains specific provisions that are intended to discourage a person or group from attempting to remove Viper Energy Partners GP LLC as our general partner or from otherwise changing our management. Please read “—Withdrawal or Removal of Our General Partner” for a discussion of certain consequences of the removal of our general partner. If any person or group, other than our general partner and its affiliates, acquires beneficial ownership of 20% or more of any class of units, that person or group loses voting rights on all of its units. This loss of voting rights does not apply in certain circumstances. Please read “—Meetings; Voting.”

Limited Call Right

Our partnership agreement provides that at any time our general partner and its affiliates own more than 97% of the limited partner interests of any class, our general partner will have the right, which it may assign in whole or in part to any of its affiliates or to us, to acquire all, but not less than all, of the limited partner interests of the class held by unaffiliated persons, as of a record date to be selected by our general partner, on at least 10, but not more than 60, days’ notice; provided, however, our general partner and its affiliates (including Diamondback) reduce their ownership to below 75% of the outstanding units, the ownership threshold to exercise the call right will be permanently reduced to 80%. The ownership of our general partner and its affiliates (including Diamondback) is currently less than 75% of the outstanding units. Accordingly, the ownership threshold to exercise the call right has been permanently reduced to 80%. The common units and Class B Units are considered limited partner interests of a single class for these provisions. The purchase price in the event of this purchase is the greater of:

As a result of our general partner’s right to purchase outstanding limited partner interests, a holder of limited partner interests may have its limited partner interests purchased at an undesirable time or at a price that may be lower than market prices at various times prior to such purchase or lower than a unitholder may anticipate the market price to be in the future. The tax consequences to a unitholder of the exercise of this call right are the same as a sale by that unitholder of its common units in the market. Please read “Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences—Consequences to U.S. Holders—Sale, Exchange, Certain Redemptions, or Other Taxable Disposition” and “Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences—Consequences to Non-U.S. Holders—Gain on Disposition of Common Units.”

Non-Taxpaying Holders; Redemption

To avoid any adverse effect on our ability to operate our assets or generate revenues from our assets, our partnership agreement provides our general partner the power to amend our partnership agreement. If our general

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partner, with the advice of counsel, determines that the tax status (or lack of proof thereof) of one or more of our limited partners (or their owners, to the extent relevant), has, or is reasonably likely to have, a material adverse effect on our ability to operate our assets or generate revenues from our assets, then our general partner may adopt such amendments to our partnership agreement as it determines necessary or advisable to:

Non-Citizen Assignees; Redemption

If our general partner, with the advice of counsel, determines we are subject to federal, state or local laws or regulations that, in the reasonable determination of our general partner, create a substantial risk of cancellation or forfeiture of any property that we have an interest in because of the nationality, citizenship or other related status of any limited partner (or its owners, to the extent relevant), then our general partner may adopt such amendments to our partnership agreement as it determines necessary or advisable to:

Meetings; Voting

Except as described below regarding a person or group owning 20% or more of any class of units then outstanding, record holders of units on the record date will be entitled to notice of, and to vote at, meetings of our limited partners and to act upon matters for which approvals may be solicited.

Our general partner does not anticipate that any meeting of our unitholders will be called in the foreseeable future. Any action that is required or permitted to be taken by the unitholders may be taken either at a meeting of the unitholders or without a meeting if consents in writing describing the action so taken are signed by holders of the number of units necessary to authorize or take that action at a meeting. Meetings of the unitholders may be called by our general partner or by unitholders owning at least 20% of the outstanding units of the class for which a meeting is proposed.

Unitholders may vote either in person or by proxy at meetings. The holders of a majority of the outstanding units of the class or classes for which a meeting has been called, represented in person or by proxy, will constitute a quorum, unless any action by the unitholders requires approval by holders of a greater percentage of the units, in which case the quorum will be the greater percentage. Our general partner may postpone any meeting of unitholders one or more times for any reason by giving notice to the unitholders entitled to vote at such meeting. Our general partner may also adjourn any meeting of unitholders one or more times for any reason, including the absence of a quorum, without a vote of the unitholders.

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Each record holder of a unit has a vote according to his percentage interest in us, although additional limited partner interests having special voting rights could be issued. Please read “—Issuance of Additional Partnership Interests.” However, if at any time any person or group, other than our general partner and its affiliates, or a direct or subsequently approved transferee of our general partner or its affiliates and purchasers specifically approved by our general partner, acquires, in the aggregate, beneficial ownership of 20% or more of any class of units then outstanding, that person or group will lose voting rights on all of its units and the units may not be voted on any matter and will not be considered to be outstanding when sending notices of a meeting of unitholders, calculating required votes, determining the presence of a quorum or for other similar purposes. Units held in nominee or street name account will be voted by the broker or other nominee in accordance with the instruction of the beneficial owner unless the arrangement between the beneficial owner and his nominee provides otherwise. Any notice, demand, request, report or proxy material required or permitted to be given or made to record unitholders under our partnership agreement will be delivered to the record holder by us or by the transfer agent.

Status as Limited Partner

By transfer of units in accordance with our partnership agreement, each transferee of units shall be admitted as a limited partner with respect to the units transferred when such transfer and admission are reflected in our books and records. Except as described under “—Limited Liability,” the units will be fully paid, and unitholders will not be required to make additional contributions.

Indemnification

Under our partnership agreement, in most circumstances, we will indemnify the following persons, to the fullest extent permitted by law, from and against all losses, claims, damages or similar events:

Any indemnification under these provisions will only be out of our assets. Unless our general partner otherwise agrees, it will not be personally liable for, or have any obligation to contribute or lend funds or assets to us to enable us to effectuate, indemnification. We may purchase insurance against liabilities asserted against and expenses incurred by persons for our activities, regardless of whether we would have the power to indemnify the person against liabilities under our partnership agreement.

Reimbursement of Expenses

Our partnership agreement requires us to reimburse our general partner for all direct and indirect expenses it incurs or payments it makes on our behalf and all other expenses allocable to us or otherwise incurred by our general partner in connection with operating our business. Our partnership agreement does not set a limit on the amount of expenses for which our general partner and its affiliates may be reimbursed. These expenses include

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salary, bonus, incentive compensation and other amounts paid to persons who perform services for us or on our behalf and expenses allocated to our general partner by its affiliates. Our general partner is entitled to determine the expenses that are allocable to us.

We and our general partner have entered into an advisory services agreement with Wexford Capital pursuant to which Wexford Capital provides general finance and advisory services in exchange for a fee and certain expense reimbursement.

Books and Reports

Our general partner is required to keep appropriate books of our business at our principal offices. These books will be maintained for both tax and financial reporting purposes on an accrual basis. For tax and fiscal reporting purposes, our fiscal year is the calendar year.

We will furnish or make available to record holders of our units, within 105 days after the close of each fiscal year (or such shorter period as required by the SEC), an annual report containing audited consolidated financial statements and a report on those consolidated financial statements by our independent public accountants. Except for our fourth quarter, we will also furnish or make available summary financial information within 50 days after the close of each quarter (or such shorter period as required by the SEC). We will be deemed to have made any such report available if we file such report with the SEC on EDGAR or make the report available on a publicly available website that we maintain.

Right to Inspect Our Books and Records

Our partnership agreement provides that a limited partner can, for a purpose reasonably related to his interest as a limited partner, upon reasonable written demand stating the purpose of such demand and at his own expense, have furnished to him:

Under our partnership agreement, however, each of our limited partners and other persons who acquire interests in our partnership interests, do not have rights to receive information from us or any of the persons we indemnify as described above under “—Indemnification” for the purpose of determining whether to pursue litigation or assist in pending litigation against us or those indemnified persons relating to our affairs, except pursuant to the applicable rules of discovery relating to the litigation commenced by the person seeking information.

Our general partner may, and intends to, keep confidential from the limited partners trade secrets or other information the disclosure of which our general partner determines is not in our best interests or that we are required by law or by agreements with third parties to keep confidential.

Our partnership agreement limits the rights to information that a limited partner would otherwise have under Delaware law.

Registration Rights

Under our partnership agreement, we have agreed to register for resale under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws any common units proposed to be sold by our general partner or any of its

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affiliates (including common units issued upon conversion of Class B Units) or their assignees if an exemption from the registration requirements is not otherwise available. These registration rights continue for two years following any withdrawal or removal of our general partner. We are obligated to pay all expenses incidental to the registration, excluding underwriting discounts.

Conflicts of Interest and Fiduciary Duties

The Delaware Act provides that Delaware limited partnerships may, in their partnership agreements, expand, restrict or eliminate the fiduciary duties otherwise owed by the general partner to the limited partners and the partnership. Our partnership agreement contains provisions that eliminate and replace the fiduciary standards to which our general partner would otherwise be held by state fiduciary duty law. Our partnership agreement also specifically defines the remedies available to unitholders for actions taken that, without these defined liability standards, might constitute breaches of fiduciary duty under applicable Delaware law.

When our general partner is acting in its capacity as our general partner, as opposed to in its individual capacity, it must act in “good faith,” meaning it must not act in a manner that it believes is adverse to our interest. This duty to act in good faith is the default standard set forth under our partnership agreement and our general partner will not be subject to any higher standard.

Our partnership agreement specifies decisions that our general partner may make in its individual capacity, and permits our general partner to make these decisions free of any contractual or other duty to us or our unitholders. This entitles our general partner to consider only the interests and factors that it desires, and it has no duty or obligation to give any consideration to any interest of, or factors affecting, us, our affiliates or any limited partner. Examples include the exercise of its call right, its voting rights with respect to any units it owns, its registration rights and its determination whether or not to consent to any merger or consolidation or amendment of the partnership agreement.

When the directors and officers of our general partner cause our general partner to manage and operate our business, the directors and officers must cause our general partner to act in a manner consistent with our general partner’s applicable duties. However, the directors and officers of our general partner have fiduciary duties to manage our general partner, including when it is acting in its capacity as our general partner, in a manner beneficial to Diamondback.

Conflicts may arise as a result of the duties of our general partner and its directors and officers to act for the benefit of its owners, which may conflict with our interests and the interests of our public unitholders. Where the directors and officers of our general partner are causing our general partner to act in its capacity as our general partner, the directors and officers must cause the general partner to act in good faith, meaning they cannot cause the general partner to take an action that they believe is adverse to our interest. However, where a decision by our general partner in its capacity as our general partner is not clearly not adverse to our interest, the directors of our general partner may determine to submit the determination to the conflicts committee for review or to seek approval by the unitholders, as described below.

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest exist and may arise in the future as a result of the relationships between our general partner and its directors, executive officers and owners (including Diamondback), on the one hand, and us and our limited partners, on the other hand.

Whenever a conflict arises between our general partner or its owners, on the one hand, and us or our limited partners, on the other hand, the resolution, course of action or transaction in respect of such conflict of interest shall be conclusively deemed approved by us and all our limited partners and shall not constitute a breach of our

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partnership agreement, of any agreement contemplated thereby or of any duty, if the resolution or course of action or transaction in respect of such conflict of interest is:

Our general partner may, but is not required to, seek the approval of such resolutions or courses of action from the conflicts committee of its board of directors or from the holders of a majority of the outstanding units as described above. If our general partner does not seek approval from the conflicts committee or from holders of units as described above and the board of directors of our general partner approves the resolution or course of action taken with respect to the conflict of interest, then it will be presumed that, in making its decision, the board of directors of our general partner acted in good faith, and in any proceeding brought by or on behalf of us or any of our unitholders, the person bringing or prosecuting such proceeding will have the burden of overcoming such presumption and proving that such decision was not in good faith. Unless the resolution of a conflict is specifically provided for in our partnership agreement, the board of directors of our general partner or the conflicts committee of the board of directors of our general partner may consider any factors they determine in good faith to consider when resolving a conflict. An independent third party is not required to evaluate the resolution. Under our partnership agreement, all determinations, other actions or failures to act by our general partner, the board of directors of our general partner or any committee thereof (including the conflicts committee) will be presumed to be “in good faith,” and in any proceeding brought by or on behalf of us or any of our unitholders, the person bringing or prosecuting such proceeding will have the burden of overcoming such presumption and proving that such decision was not in good faith.

Conflicts of interest could arise in the situations described below, among others:

Actions taken by our general partner may affect the amount of cash available from the Operating Company to pay distributions to us and from us to pay distributions to common unitholders.

The amount of cash that is available from the Operating Company for distribution to us and from us to pay distributions to common unitholders is affected by decisions of our general partner regarding such matters as:

Our partnership agreement permits us to borrow funds to make a distribution, and further provides that we and our subsidiaries may borrow funds from our general partner and its affiliates.

The directors and executive officers of our general partner who are also officers and directors of Diamondback have a fiduciary duty to make decisions in the best interests of the owners of Diamondback, which may be contrary to our interests.

The executive officers and certain directors of our general partner are also officers and directors of Diamondback. These officers and directors have fiduciary duties to Diamondback that may cause them to pursue business strategies that disproportionately benefit Diamondback or which otherwise are not in our best interests.

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Our general partner is allowed to take into account the interests of parties other than us, such as Diamondback, in exercising certain rights under our partnership agreement.

Our partnership agreement contains provisions that replace the standards to which our general partner would otherwise be held by state fiduciary duty law. For example, our partnership agreement permits our general partner to make a number of decisions in its individual capacity, as opposed to in its capacity as our general partner. This entitles our general partner to consider only the interests and factors that it desires, and it has no duty or obligation to give any consideration to any interest of, or factors affecting, us, our affiliates or any limited partner. Examples include the exercise of its call right, its voting rights with respect to any units it owns, its registration rights and its determination whether or not to consent to any merger or consolidation of the partnership or amendment of the partnership agreement.

Our partnership agreement restricts the remedies available to our unitholders for actions that, without the limitations, might constitute breaches of fiduciary duty.

In addition to the provisions described above, our partnership agreement contains provisions that have the effect of restricting the remedies available to our unitholders for actions that might otherwise constitute breaches of fiduciary duty. For example, our partnership agreement provides that:

By purchasing a unit, a unitholder will agree to become bound by the provisions in our partnership agreement, including the provisions discussed above. Please read “—Fiduciary Duties.”

Common unitholders have no right to enforce obligations of our general partner and its affiliates under agreements with us.

Any agreements between us, on the one hand, and our general partner and its affiliates, on the other, will not grant to the common unitholders, separate and apart from us, the right to enforce the obligations of our general partner and its affiliates in our favor.

Contracts between us, on the one hand, and our general partner and its affiliates, on the other, are not and will not be the result of arm’s length negotiations.

Neither our partnership agreement nor any of the other agreements, contracts and arrangements between us and our general partner and its affiliates are or will be the result of arm’s-length negotiations. Our general partner will determine, in good faith, the terms of any of such future transactions.

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Except in limited circumstances, our general partner has the power and authority to conduct our business without unitholder approval.

Under our partnership agreement, our general partner has full power and authority to do all things, other than those items that require unitholder approval, necessary or appropriate to conduct our business including, but not limited to, the following actions:

Please read “—Meetings; Voting” for information regarding the voting rights of unitholders.

Our general partner determines which of the costs it incurs on our behalf are reimbursable by us.

We reimburse our general partner and its affiliates for the costs incurred in managing and operating us, including costs incurred in rendering corporate staff and support services to us. Our partnership agreement provides that our general partner will determine such other expenses that are allocable to us, and neither the partnership agreement nor the advisory services agreement limits the amount of expenses for which our general partner and its affiliates may be reimbursed.

Units are subject to our general partner’s call right.

If at any time our general partner and its affiliates (including Diamondback) own more than 80% of the units, our general partner will have the right, which it may assign to any of its affiliates or to us, but not the obligation, to acquire all, but not less than all, of the units held by unaffiliated persons at the market price calculated in accordance with the terms of our partnership agreement. As a result, you may be required to sell

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your units at an undesirable time or price and may not receive any return on your investment. You may also incur a tax liability upon a sale of your units. Our general partner is not obligated to obtain a fairness opinion regarding the value of the units to be repurchased by it upon exercise of the call right. There is no restriction in our partnership agreement that prevents our general partner from issuing additional units and exercising its call right. Our general partner may use its own discretion, free of fiduciary duty restrictions, in determining whether to exercise this right. As a result, a unitholder may have his units purchased from him at an undesirable time or price. The common units and Class B Units will be considered limited partner interests of a single class for these provisions. Please read “—Limited Call Right.”

We may choose to not retain separate counsel for ourselves or for the holders of units.

The attorneys, independent accountants and others who perform services for us have been retained by our general partner. Attorneys, independent accountants and others who perform services for us are selected by our general partner or the conflicts committee of the board of directors of our general partner and may perform services for our general partner and its affiliates. We may retain separate counsel for ourselves or the conflict committee in the event of a conflict of interest between our general partner and its affiliates, on the one hand, and us or the holders of units, on the other, depending on the nature of the conflict, although we may choose not to do so.

Our general partner’s affiliates may compete with us, and neither our general partner nor its affiliates have any obligation to present business opportunities to us.

Our partnership agreement provides that our general partner is restricted from engaging in any business activities other than acting as our general partner, engaging in activities incidental to its ownership interest in us and providing management, advisory, and administrative services to its affiliates or to other persons. However, affiliates of our general partner, including Diamondback and Wexford Capital, are not prohibited from engaging in other businesses or activities, including those that might be in direct competition with us. In addition, Diamondback and Wexford Capital may compete with us for investment opportunities and may own an interest in entities that compete with us. Pursuant to the terms of our partnership agreement, the doctrine of corporate opportunity, or any analogous doctrine, does not apply to our general partner or any of its affiliates, including its executive officers and directors and Diamondback and Wexford Capital. Any such person or entity that becomes aware of a potential transaction, agreement, arrangement or other matter that may be an opportunity for us will not have any duty to communicate or offer such opportunity to us. Any such person or entity will not be liable to us or to any limited partner for breach of any fiduciary duty or other duty by reason of the fact that such person or entity pursues or acquires such opportunity for itself, directs such opportunity to another person or entity or does not communicate such opportunity or information to us.

Fiduciary Duties

Duties owed to unitholders by our general partner are prescribed by law and in our partnership agreement. The Delaware Act provides that Delaware limited partnerships may, in their partnership agreements, expand, restrict or eliminate the fiduciary duties otherwise owed by the general partner to limited partners and the partnership.

Our partnership agreement contains various provisions eliminating the fiduciary duties that might otherwise be owed by our general partner and replacing them with contractual standards of conduct. We have adopted these provisions to allow our general partner or its affiliates to engage in transactions with us that otherwise might be prohibited by state law fiduciary standards and to take into account the interests of other parties in addition to our interests when resolving conflicts of interest. We believe this is appropriate and necessary because the board of directors of our general partner has a duty to manage our partnership in good faith and a duty to manage our general partner in a manner beneficial to its owner. Without these modifications, our general partner’s ability to make decisions involving conflicts of interest would be restricted. The provisions eliminating and replacing the

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default fiduciary standards benefit our general partner by enabling it to take into consideration all parties involved in the proposed action. These provisions also strengthen the ability of our general partner to attract and retain experienced and capable directors. These provisions represent a detriment to our public unitholders because they restrict the remedies available to our public unitholders for actions that, without those provisions, might constitute breaches of fiduciary duty, as described below, and permit our general partner to take into account the interests of third parties in addition to our interests when resolving conflicts of interests. The following is a summary of:

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By purchasing our units, each unitholder automatically agrees to be bound by the provisions in our partnership agreement, including the provisions discussed above. This is in accordance with the policy of the Delaware Act favoring the principle of freedom of contract and the enforceability of partnership agreements. The failure of a limited partner to sign a partnership agreement does not render the partnership agreement unenforceable against that person.

Under our partnership agreement, we must indemnify our general partner and its officers, directors, managers and certain other specified persons, to the fullest extent permitted by law, against liabilities, costs and expenses incurred by our general partner or these other persons. We must provide this indemnification unless there has been a final and non-appealable judgment by a court of competent jurisdiction determining that such losses or liabilities were the result of conduct of our general partner or such officer or director engaged by it in bad faith, willful misconduct or fraud or, with respect to any criminal conduct, with the knowledge that its conduct was unlawful. Thus, our general partner could be indemnified for its negligent acts if it meets the requirements set forth above. To the extent these provisions purport to include indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act, in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is contrary to public policy and, therefore, unenforceable. Please read “—Indemnification.”

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THE OPERATING COMPANY LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY AGREEMENT

The following is a summary of the material provisions of the limited liability company agreement of the Operating Company. The limited liability company agreement is an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part and is incorporated by reference into this prospectus. We will provide prospective investors with a copy of the limited liability company agreement upon request at no charge.

Since the partnership owns all of the managing member interests of the Operating Company, determinations made by us under the limited liability company agreement will be made by our general partner.

Organization and Duration

The Operating Company was formed in September 2013 and will have a perpetual existence unless terminated under the terms of the limited liability company agreement.

Purpose

The Operating Company’s purpose under the limited liability company agreement is limited to any business activity that is approved by its managing member and that lawfully may be conducted by a limited liability company organized under Delaware law; provided that the managing member shall not cause the Operating Company to take any action that the managing determines would be reasonably likely to cause the Operating Company to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise taxable as an entity for federal income tax purposes.

Although we have the ability to cause the Operating Company to engage in activities other than the business of acquiring and exploiting oil and natural gas properties, we have no current plans to do so and may decline to do so free of any duty or obligation whatsoever to the Operating Company or the non-managing members, including any duty to act in the best interests of the Operating Company or the non-managing members. We are authorized in general to perform all acts we determine to be necessary or appropriate to carry out the Operating Company’s purposes and to conduct its business.

Capital Contributions

Unitholders are not obligated to make additional capital contributions, except as described below under “—Limited Liability.” We are not obligated to make any capital contributions.

Management; Voting Rights

The business, property and affairs of the Operating Company are managed under the sole, absolute and exclusive direction of the managing member, which may from time to time delegate authority to its officers or to others to act on behalf of the Operating Company. No non-managing member, in his or her capacity as such, has the right to participate in or have any control over the business of the Operating Company.

Except as expressly provide in the limited liability company agreement, no non-managing member has the right to vote on any matter involving the Operating Company, including with respect to any merger, consolidation, combination or conversion of the Operating Company, or any other matter that a member might otherwise have the ability to vote or consent with respect to under the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act, or the Delaware LLC Act, at law, in equity or otherwise.

Limited Liability

Under the Delaware LLC Act, a limited liability company may not make a distribution to a member if, after the distribution, all liabilities of the limited liability company, other than liabilities to members on account of

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their membership interests and liabilities for which the recourse of creditors is limited to specific property of the company, would exceed the fair value of the assets of the limited liability company. For the purpose of determining the fair value of the assets of a limited liability company, the Delaware LLC Act provides that the fair value of property subject to liability for which recourse of creditors is limited shall be included in the assets of the limited liability company only to the extent that the fair value of that property exceeds the non-recourse liability. The Delaware LLC Act provides that a member who receives a distribution and knew at the time of the distribution that the distribution was in violation of the Delaware LLC Act shall be liable to the limited liability company for the amount of the distribution for three years.

Applicable Law; Forum, Venue and Jurisdiction

The limited liability company agreement is governed by Delaware law. The limited liability company agreement requires that any claims, suits, actions or proceedings:

shall be exclusively brought in 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), regardless of whether such claims, suits, actions or proceedings sound in contract, tort, fraud or otherwise, are based on common law, statutory, equitable, legal or other grounds, or are derivative or direct claims and irrevocably waives the right to trial by jury.

If any person brings any of the aforementioned claims, suits, actions or proceedings and such person does not obtain a judgment on the merits that substantially achieves, in substance and amount, the full remedy sought, then such person shall be obligated to reimburse the Operating Company and its affiliates for all fees, costs and expenses of every kind and description, including but not limited to all reasonable attorneys’ fees and other litigation expenses, that the parties may incur in connection with such claim, suit, action or proceeding.

By purchasing an OpCo Unit, a member is irrevocably consenting to these limitations and provisions regarding claims, suits, actions or proceedings and submitting to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or such other Delaware courts) in connection with any such claims, suits, actions or proceedings.

Issuance of Additional Membership Interests

The limited liability company agreement authorizes the Operating Company to issue an unlimited number of additional membership interests for the consideration and on the terms and conditions determined by its managing member without the approval of any non-managing member.

At any time when we issue additional common units, we will contribute the net cash proceeds or other consideration received, if any, from the issuance of such common units in exchange for an equivalent number of

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OpCo Units. In addition, if we issue common units pursuant to the Exchange Agreement entered into in connection with the Recapitalization Transaction, which we refer to as the Exchange Agreement, or pursuant to a distribution (including any split or combination) of common units to all of the holders of common units, the Operating Company will, if necessary, issue to us an equivalent number of OpCo Units, such that the number of OpCo Units held by us is equal to the number of common units in the partnership outstanding.

In the event that the Operating Company issues OpCo Units to, or cancels OpCo Units held by, any person other than us, we will issue Class B Units to such person or cancel Class B Units held by such person, as applicable, such that the number of Class B Units held by such person is equal to the number of OpCo Units held by such person.

Transfer of OpCo Units

By transfer of OpCo Units in accordance with the limited liability company agreement, each transferee of OpCo Units will be admitted as a member with respect to the OpCo Units transferred when such transfer or admission is reflected in the Operating Company’s register and such member becomes the record holder of the OpCo Units so transferred.

At any time, the non-managing member may exchange OpCo Units held by it (together with an equivalent number of Class B Units) for common units of the partnership pursuant to and in accordance with the Exchange Agreement and our partnership agreement upon a good faith written determination by the Operating Company, based on the most current practically available geological data, that there is sufficient net built-in gains or net built-in losses (or items thereof) attributable to the Operating Company’s assets to make an allocation pursuant to the limited liability company agreement to equalize the members’ capital account equal to its percentage interests. The limited liability company agreement also provides for additional transfer restrictions of OpCo Units.

Distributions and Allocations

The Operating Company will make distributions, if any, to all record holders of OpCo Units, pro rata. Subject to the special allocations discussed below, income or loss will be allocated to all record holders of OpCo Units, pro rata. We and Diamondback agreed to specially allocate to Diamondback a priority allocation of $300 million of the Operating Company’s income and gains over losses and deductions (but before depletion) over the next four taxable years.

Amendment of the Limited Liability Company Agreement

The limited liability company agreement may be amended, supplemented, waived or modified by the written consent of the managing member in its sole discretion without the approval of any other member or person; provided that except as otherwise provided in the limited liability company agreement, no amendment may modify the limited liability of any member, or increase the liabilities or obligations of any member, in each case, without the consent of each such affected member. Any amendment to the limited liability company agreement may be implemented and reflected in a writing executed solely by the managing member, and the non-managing member(s) will be deemed a party to and bound by such amendment.

Dissolution

The Operating Company will continue as a limited liability company until dissolved under the limited liability company agreement. The Operating Company will dissolve upon:

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Liquidation and Distribution of Proceeds

Upon the Operating Company’s dissolution, unless it is continued as a new limited liability company, the liquidator authorized to wind up the Operating Company’s affairs will, acting with all of our powers that are necessary or appropriate, liquidate the Operating Company’s assets and apply the proceeds of the liquidation as set forth in the limited partnership agreement. The liquidator may defer liquidation or distribution of the Operating Company’s assets for a reasonable period of time or distribute assets to members in kind if it determines that a sale would be impractical or would cause undue loss to the Operating Company’s members.

Withdrawal or Removal of the Managing Member

We may not be removed as the Operating Company’s managing member unless our general partner is removed as our general partner. If we are removed as the managing member of the Operating Company, we will automatically be removed as the general partner or managing member of each of our subsidiaries of which we are the general partner or managing member.

Indemnification

Under the limited liability company agreement, in most circumstances, the Operating Company will indemnify the following persons, to the fullest extent permitted by law, from and against any and all losses, claims, damages or similar events:

Any indemnification under these provisions will only be out of the Operating Company’s assets. The managing member will not be personally liable for the Operating Company’s indemnification obligations, or have any obligation to contribute or lend any monies or property to the Operating Company to enable it to effectuate indemnification.

Books and Reports

We are required to keep appropriate books of the Operating Company’s business at the Operating Company’s principal offices. The Operating Company’s fiscal year ends on December 31 of each year.

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CASH DISTRIBUTION POLICY AND RESTRICTIONS ON DISTRIBUTIONS

Cash Distribution Policy

Our sole source of cash is distributions from the Operating Company, which we control and in which we own a 36% economic interest as of June 30, 2018. The Operating Company will distribute cash to us and to Diamondback from time to time in proportion to our respective economic interests, subject to applicable law and any contractual restrictions.

The board of directors of our general partner has adopted a policy pursuant to which the Operating Company will distribute all of the available cash it generates each quarter to its unitholders (including us), and pursuant to which we in turn will distribute all of the available cash we receive from the Operating Company to our common unitholders. We expect to pay our distributions within 60 days of the end of each quarter. Our available cash, and the available cash of the Operating Company, for each quarter will be determined by the board of directors of our general partner following the end of such quarter. We expect that the Operating Company’s available cash for each quarter will generally equal its Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter, less cash needed for debt service and other contractual obligations and fixed charges and reserves for future operating or capital needs that the board of directors may determine is appropriate, if any, and that our available cash for each quarter will generally equal our Adjusted EBITDA (which will be our proportional share of the available cash distributed by the Operating Company for the quarter), less as a result of the Tax Election, cash needed for the payment of income taxes payable by us, if any, and up to $40,000 in preferred distributions. We do not intend to maintain (or to cause the Operating Company to maintain) excess distribution coverage for the purpose of maintaining stability or growth in our quarterly distribution or otherwise to reserve cash for distributions. Further, it is our intent, subject to market conditions, to finance growth capital externally. The board of directors of our general partner may change the foregoing distribution policy at any time and from time to time. Our partnership agreement does not require us to pay cash distributions on a quarterly or other basis.

Neither we nor the Operating Company expect to retain cash from our operations for replacement capital expenditures primarily due to our expectation that existing development and the discovery of new pay horizons will lead to inclining production and revenues for at least the next several years. Replacement capital expenditures are those expenditures necessary to replace our existing oil and gas reserves or otherwise maintain our asset base over the long term. We expect to seek additional acquisitions of reserves and may cause the Operating Company to restrict distributions to acquire or fund such acquisitions in whole or in part. If we do not cause the Operating Company to retain cash for replacement capital expenditures in amounts necessary to maintain our asset base, eventually our cash available for distribution will decrease. The board of directors of our general partner may in the future decide to withhold replacement capital expenditures from cash available for distribution which may have an adverse impact on the cash available for distribution in the quarter(s) in which any such amounts are withheld. To the extent that we do not withhold replacement capital expenditures in the future, a portion of our future cash available for distribution will represent a return of your capital.

Because our policy is to cause the Operating Company to distribute all available cash it generates each quarter, and then to distribute all available cash we receive from the Operating Company, without reserving cash for future distributions or borrowing to pay distributions during periods of low revenue, our unitholders have direct exposure to fluctuations in the amount of cash generated by our business. Our quarterly cash distributions, if any, will not be stable and will vary from quarter to quarter as a direct result of variations in the performance of our operators and revenue caused by fluctuations in the prices of oil and natural gas. Such variations may be significant.

Holders of Class B Units are not entitled to receive cash distributions except to the extent of the cash preferred distributions equal to 8% per annum payable quarterly on the $1.0 million capital contribution made to us by Diamondback pursuant to the Recapitalization Agreement in connection with the issuance of the Class B Units in the Recapitalization Transaction.

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Limitations on Cash Distributions and Our Ability to Change Our Cash Distribution Policy

There is no guarantee that we will make cash distributions to our unitholders. Our cash distribution policy may be changed at any time and is subject to certain restrictions, including the following:

We expect to distribute to our common unitholders on a quarterly basis all available cash we receive from the Operating Company, less reserves for income taxes payable by us, if any. To fund growth, we may need capital in excess of the amounts we may retain in our business. Our growth will depend on our ability and our operators’ ability to raise debt and equity capital from third parties in sufficient amounts and on favorable terms when needed. To the extent efforts to access capital externally are unsuccessful, our ability to grow could be impaired.

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HOW WE MAKE DISTRIBUTIONS ON OUR LIMITED PARTNERSHIP INTERESTS

General

Within 60 days after the end of each quarter, we expect to make distributions, as determined by the board of directors of our general partner, to common unitholders of record on the applicable record date. We do not have a legal obligation to pay distributions, and the amount of distributions, if any, declared and paid under our distribution policy is determined by the board of directors of our general partner. See “Cash Distribution Policy and Restrictions on Distributions.”

Method of Distributions

We intend to distribute available cash to our common unitholders, pro rata. Our partnership agreement permits us to borrow to make distributions, but we are not required to borrow to pay quarterly distributions. Accordingly, there is no guarantee that we will pay any distribution on the units in any quarter.

Common Units

As of July 15, 2018, we had 41,470,777 common units outstanding. Each common unit is entitled to receive cash distributions to the extent we distribute available cash. Common units do not accrue arrearages. Our partnership agreement allows us to issue an unlimited number of additional equity interests of equal or senior rank.

Class B Units

As of July 15, 2018, we had 72,418,500 Class B Units outstanding. Holders of Class B Units are only entitled to receive cash preferred distributions equal to 8% per annum payable quarterly on the $1.0 million capital contribution made to us by Diamondback pursuant to the Recapitalization Agreement in connection with the issuance of the Class B Units in the Recapitalization Transaction.

General Partner Interest

Our general partner owns a general partner interest and is only entitled to receive cash preferred distributions equal to 8% per annum payable quarterly on the $1.0 million capital contribution made to us by our general partner pursuant to the Recapitalization Agreement in respect of its general partner interest. However, it may acquire common units and other equity interests (including Class B Units) in the future and will be entitled to receive pro rata distributions in respect of those equity interests to the extent those equity interests are entitled to receive distributions.

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MATERIAL U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES

Prior to May 10, 2018, we were treated as a pass-through entity for federal income tax purposes. On May 10, 2018, we elected to be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

The following is a summary of the material U.S. federal income tax consequences related to the purchase, ownership and disposition of our common units on or after our election to be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes by a taxpayer that holds our common units as a “capital asset” (generally property held for investment). This summary is based on the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, U.S. Treasury regulations and administrative rulings and judicial decisions, all as in effect on the date hereof, and all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect. We have not sought any ruling from the Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, with respect to the statements made and the conclusions reached in the following summary, and there can be no assurance that the IRS or a court will agree with such statements and conclusions.

This summary does not address all aspects of U.S. federal income taxation or the tax considerations arising under the laws of any non-U.S., state, or local jurisdiction, or under U.S. federal estate or gift tax laws. In addition, this summary does not address tax considerations applicable to investors that may be subject to special treatment under the U.S. federal income tax laws, such as (without limitation):

If a partnership (including an entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) holds our common units, the tax treatment of a partner in the partnership generally will depend upon the status of the partner and upon the activities of the partnership. Accordingly, we urge partners of a partnership (including an entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) investing in our common units to consult their tax advisors regarding the U.S. federal income tax considerations of the purchase, ownership and disposition of our common units by such partnership.

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YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO CONSULT YOUR TAX ADVISOR WITH RESPECT TO THE APPLICATION OF THE U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX LAWS TO YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, AS WELL AS ANY TAX CONSEQUENCES OF THE PURCHASE, OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF OUR COMMON UNITS ARISING UNDER THE U.S. FEDERAL ESTATE AND GIFT TAX LAWS OR UNDER THE LAWS OF ANY STATE, LOCAL, NON-U.S. OR OTHER TAXING JURISDICTION OR UNDER ANY APPLICABLE INCOME TAX TREATY.

Corporate Status

Although we are a Delaware limited partnership, we have elected to be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes effective on May 10, 2018. As a result, we are subject to tax as a corporation and distributions on our common units will be treated as distributions on corporate stock for U.S. federal income tax purposes. No Schedule K-1 will be issued with respect to our common units, but instead holders of our common units will receive a Form 1099 from us with respect to distributions received on our common units.

Consequences to U.S. Holders

The discussion in this section is addressed to holders of our common units who are U.S. holders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A U.S. holder for purposes of this discussion is a beneficial owner of our common units and who is, for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

Distributions

Distributions with respect to our common units will constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles. To the extent that the amount of a distribution with respect to our common units exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits, such distribution will be treated first as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in such common units, which reduces such basis dollar-for-dollar, and thereafter as capital gain from the sale or exchange of such common units. Non-corporate holders that receive distributions on our common units that are treated as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at a maximum tax rate of 20% on such dividends provided certain holding period requirements are met.

You are encouraged to consult your tax advisor as to the tax consequences of receiving distributions on our common units that do not qualify as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes, including, in the case of prospective corporate investors, the inability to claim the corporate dividends received deduction with respect to such distributions.

Sale, Exchange, Certain Redemptions, or Other Taxable Disposition

A U.S. holder generally will recognize capital gain or loss on a sale, exchange, certain redemptions, or other taxable disposition of our common units equal to the difference, if any, between the amount realized upon the disposition of such common units and the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in those common units. A U.S.

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holder’s tax basis in the common units generally will be equal to the amount paid for such common units reduced (but not below zero) by distributions received on such common units that are not treated as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Such capital gain or loss generally will be long-term capital gain or loss if the U.S. holder’s holding period for the common units sold or disposed of is more than one year. Long-term capital gains of individuals generally are subject to a reduced U.S. federal income tax rate. The deductibility of net capital losses is subject to limitations.

Backup Withholding and Information Reporting

Information returns generally will be filed with the IRS with respect to distributions on our common units and the proceeds from a disposition of our common units. U.S. holders may be subject to backup withholding (at a rate of 24%) on distributions with respect to our common units and on the proceeds of a disposition of our common units unless such U.S. holders furnish the applicable withholding agent with a taxpayer identification number, certified under penalties of perjury, and certain other information, or otherwise establish, in the manner prescribed by law, an exemption from backup withholding. Penalties apply for failure to furnish correct information and for failure to include reportable payments in income.

Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules will be creditable against a U.S. holder’s U.S. federal income tax liability, and the U.S. holder may be entitled to a refund, provided the U.S. holder timely furnishes the required information to the IRS. U.S. holders are urged to consult their own tax advisors regarding the application of the backup withholding rules to their particular circumstances and the availability of, and procedure for, obtaining an exemption from backup withholding.

3.8% Tax on Net Investment Income

Certain U.S. holders that are individuals, trusts or estates will be subject to an additional tax at a rate of 3.8% on certain net investment income, which generally will include dividends received and gain recognized with respect to our common units. For individual U.S. holders, this additional tax applies to the lesser of (i) “net investment income,” or (ii) the excess of “modified adjusted gross income” over $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly or $125,000 if married and filing separately). “Net investment income” generally equals a U.S. holder’s gross investment income reduced by the deductions that are allocable to such income. Investment income generally includes passive income such as interest, dividends, annuities, royalties, rents and capital gains. U.S. holders are urged to consult their own tax advisors regarding the application of this additional net investment income tax to their particular circumstances.

Consequences to Non-U.S. Holders

The discussion in this section is addressed to holders of our common units who are non-U.S. holders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. For purposes of this discussion, a non-U.S. holder is a beneficial owner of our common units that is an individual, corporation, estate or trust that is not a U.S. holder as defined above.

Distributions

Distributions with respect to our common units will constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles. Subject to the withholding requirements under FATCA (as defined below) and with respect to effectively connected dividends, each of which is discussed below, any distribution treated as a dividend paid to a non-U.S. holder on our common units generally will be subject to U.S. withholding tax at a rate of 30% of the gross amount of the distribution or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty. To the extent a distribution exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits, such distribution will reduce the non-U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its common units (but not below zero). The amount of any such distribution in excess of the non-U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its common units will be

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treated as gain from the sale of such common units and will have the tax consequences described below under “Gain on Disposition of common units.” The rules applicable to distributions by a United States real property holding corporation (a “USRPHC”) to non-U.S. persons that exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits are not clear. As a result, it is possible that U.S. federal income tax at a rate not less than 15% (or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty for distributions from a USRPHC) may be withheld from distributions received by non-U.S. holders that exceed our current and accumulated earnings and profits. To receive the benefit of a reduced treaty rate on distributions, a non-U.S. holder must provide the withholding agent with an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or other appropriate version of IRS Form W-8 certifying qualification for the reduced rate.

Non-U.S. holders are encouraged to consult their tax advisors regarding the withholding rules applicable to distributions on our common units, the requirement for claiming treaty benefits, and any procedures required to obtain a refund of any overwithheld amounts.

Distributions treated as dividends that are paid to a non-U.S. holder and are effectively connected with a trade or business conducted by the non-U.S. holder in the United States (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, are attributable to a permanent establishment maintained by the non-U.S. holder in the United States) generally will be taxed on a net income basis at the rates and in the manner generally applicable to United States persons (as defined under the Code). Such effectively connected dividends will not be subject to U.S. withholding tax if the non-U.S. holder satisfies certain certification requirements by providing to the applicable withholding agent a properly executed IRS Form W-8ECI (or successor form) certifying eligibility for exemption. If a non-U.S. holder is a corporation, it may also be subject to a “branch profits tax” (at a 30% rate or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty) on its effectively connected earnings and profits (as adjusted for certain items), which will include effectively connected dividends.

Gain on Disposition of Common Units

Subject to the withholding requirements under FATCA (as defined below), a non-U.S. holder generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on any gain realized upon the sale or other disposition of our common units unless:

A non-U.S. holder described in the first bullet point above will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at a rate of 30% (or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty) on the amount of such gain, which generally may be offset by U.S. source capital losses.

A non-U.S. holder whose gain is described in the second bullet point above or, subject to the exceptions described in the next paragraph, the third bullet point above, generally will be taxed on a net income basis at the rates and in the manner generally applicable to United States persons unless an applicable income tax treaty provides otherwise. If the non-U.S. holder is a corporation, it may also be subject to a branch profits tax (at a 30% rate or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty) on its effectively connected earnings and profits (as adjusted for certain items), which will include such gain.

Generally, a corporation is a USRPHC if the fair market value of its United States real property interests equals or exceeds 50% of the sum of the fair market value of its real property interests and its other assets used or

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held for use in a trade or business. We believe that we currently are, and expect to remain for the foreseeable future, a USRPHC for U.S. federal income tax purposes. However, as long as our common units continue to be regularly traded on an established securities market, only a non-U.S. holder that actually or constructively owns, or owned at any time during the shorter of the five-year period ending on the date of the disposition or the non-U.S. holder’s holding period for the common units, more than 5% of our common units will be taxable on gain realized on the disposition of our common units as a result of our status as a USRPHC. If our common units were not regularly traded during the calendar year in which the relevant disposition by a non-U.S. holder occurs, such non-U.S. holder (regardless of the percentage of our common units owned) would be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a taxable disposition of our common units (as described in the preceding paragraph), and a 15% withholding tax would apply to the gross proceeds from such disposition. Non-U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors with respect to the application of the foregoing rules to their ownership and disposition of our common units.

Backup Withholding and Information Reporting

Generally, we must report annually to the IRS and to each non-U.S. holder the amount of dividends paid to such holder, the name and address of the recipient, and the amount, if any, of tax withheld with respect to those dividends. These information reporting requirements apply even if withholding was not required. Pursuant to tax treaties or other agreements, the IRS may make such reports available to tax authorities in the recipient’s country of residence.

Payments of dividends to a non-U.S. holder generally will not be subject to backup withholding if the non-U.S. holder establishes an exemption by properly certifying its non-U.S. status on an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or other appropriate version of IRS Form W-8, provided that the withholding agent does not have actual knowledge, or reason to know, that the beneficial owner is a United States person that is not an exempt recipient.

Payments of the proceeds from a sale or other disposition by a non-U.S. holder of our common units effected by or through a U.S. office of a broker generally will be subject to information reporting and backup withholding (at the rate of 24%) unless the non-U.S. holder establishes an exemption by properly certifying its non-U.S. status on an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or other appropriate version of IRS Form W-8 and certain other conditions are met. Information reporting and backup withholding generally will not apply to any payment of the proceeds from a sale or other disposition of our common units effected outside the United States by a non-U.S. office of a broker. However, unless such broker has documentary evidence in its records that the holder is not a United States person and certain other conditions are met, or the non-U.S. holder otherwise establishes an exemption, information reporting will apply to a payment of the proceeds of the disposition of our common units effected outside the United States by such a broker if it has certain relationships within the United States.

Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Rather, the U.S. income tax liability (if any) of persons subject to backup withholding will be reduced by the amount of tax withheld. If withholding results in an overpayment of taxes, a refund may be obtained, provided that the required information is timely furnished to the IRS.

Additional Withholding Requirements under FATCA

Sections 1471 through 1474 of the Code and the Treasury regulations and administrative guidance issued thereunder, or FATCA, impose a 30% withholding tax on any dividends paid on our common units and on the gross proceeds from a disposition of our common units (if such disposition occurs after December 31, 2018), in each case if paid to a “foreign financial institution” or a “non-financial foreign entity” (each as defined in the Code) (including, in some cases, when such foreign financial institution or non-financial foreign entity is acting as an intermediary), unless (i) in the case of a foreign financial institution, such institution enters into an agreement with the U.S. government to withhold on certain payments, and to collect and provide to the U.S. tax

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authorities substantial information regarding U.S. account holders of such institution (which includes certain equity and debt holders of such institution, as well as certain account holders that are non-U.S. entities with U.S. owners); (ii) in the case of a non-financial foreign entity, such entity certifies that it does not have any “substantial United States owners” (as defined in the Code) or provides the applicable withholding agent with a certification (generally on an IRS Form W-8BEN-E) identifying each direct and indirect substantial United States owner of the entity; or (iii) the foreign financial institution or non-financial foreign entity otherwise qualifies for an exemption from these rules and provides appropriate documentation (such as an IRS Form W-8BEN-E). Foreign financial institutions located in jurisdictions that have an intergovernmental agreement with the United States governing these rules may be subject to different rules. Under certain circumstances, a holder might be eligible for refunds or credits of such taxes.

INVESTORS CONSIDERING THE PURCHASE OF OUR COMMON UNITS ARE URGED TO CONSULT THEIR OWN TAX ADVISORS REGARDING THE APPLICATION OF THE U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX LAWS TO THEIR PARTICULAR SITUATIONS AND THE APPLICABILITY AND EFFECT OF U.S. FEDERAL ESTATE AND GIFT TAX LAWS AND ANY STATE, LOCAL OR NON-U.S. TAX LAWS AND TAX TREATIES.

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INVESTMENT IN VIPER ENERGY PARTNERS LP BY EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

Investment in our common units is generally open to institutions, including pension and other funds subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, or ERISA. An investment in us by an employee benefit plan is subject to additional considerations because the investments of these plans are subject to the fiduciary responsibility and prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA, restrictions imposed by Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code, and/or provisions under any federal, state, local, non-U.S. or other laws or regulations that are similar to such provisions of the Internal Revenue Code or ERISA (collectively, Similar Laws). For these purposes the term “employee benefit plan” includes, but is not limited to, qualified pension, profit-sharing and stock bonus plans, Keogh plans, simplified employee pension plans and tax deferred annuities or individual retirement accounts or annuities, or IRAs, and entities whose underlying assets are considered to include “plan assets” of such plans, accounts or arrangements. Under ERISA and the Code, any person who exercises any discretionary authority or control over the administration of a Plan or the management or disposition of the assets of a Plan, or who renders investment advice to a Plan for a fee or other compensation, is generally considered to be a fiduciary of the Plan, or a “Plan Fiduciary”. Among other things, whether or not subject to ERISA or the Code, a Plan Fiduciary should consider whether the investment is in accordance with the documents and instruments governing the Plan and the applicable provisions of ERISA, the Code or any Similar Laws relating to a Plan Fiduciary’s duties to the plan including, without limitation:

Plans investing in common units have no assurance of a full return of the amount invested. Each Plan Fiduciary must carefully consider the appropriateness of investing the assets of its plan in or common units and, before deciding to invest in our common units, must be satisfied that investment in our common units is prudent for the plan, that the investments of the plan, including its investment in our common units, are diversified so as to minimize the risks of large losses and that an investment in our common units complies with and is authorized by the appropriate governing instrument and is a proper investment for the plan. Section 406 of ERISA and Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code prohibit employee benefit plans from engaging in specified transactions involving “plan assets” with parties that are “parties in interest” under ERISA or “disqualified persons” under the Internal Revenue Code with respect to the plan.

The U.S. Department of Labor, or DOL, has issued new regulations that redefine the term “fiduciary” and when a party becomes a fiduciary in connection with the provision of “investment advice” in the context of plan investment decisions. The new DOL fiduciary rule provides an exception that excludes from the definition of investment advice, recommendations to independent fiduciaries with financial expertise that are acting on behalf of plans in arm’s length transactions, if certain conditions are met. The independent fiduciary must be a bank, insurance carrier qualified to do business in more than one state, investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 or by a state, broker-dealer registered under the Exchange Act, or any other independent fiduciary that holds, or has under management or control, assets of at least $50 million, and: (1) The person making the recommendation must know or reasonably believe that the independent fiduciary of the plan is

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capable of evaluating investment risks independently, both in general and with regard to particular transactions and investment strategies (the person may rely on written representations from the plan or independent fiduciary to satisfy this condition); (2) the person must fairly inform the independent fiduciary that the person is not undertaking to provide impartial investment advice, or to give advice in a fiduciary capacity, in connection with the transaction and must fairly inform the independent fiduciary of the existence and nature of the person’s financial interests in the transaction; (3) the person must know or reasonably believe that the independent fiduciary of the plan is a fiduciary under ERISA or the Code, or both, with respect to the transaction and is responsible for exercising independent judgment in evaluating the transaction (the person may rely on written representations from the plan or independent fiduciary to satisfy this condition); and (4) the person cannot receive a fee or other compensation directly from the plan, Plan Fiduciary, plan participant or beneficiary, IRA, or IRA owner for the provision of investment advice (as opposed to other services) in connection with the transaction.

Although the current status of the new fiduciary regulations is unsettled, we may require certain representations or assurances from prospective investors subject to ERISA to determine compliance with ERISA provisions and to establish that the prospective ERISA investor is and will remain represented by a fiduciary independent of our general partner, the partnership, the Operating Company, their affiliates, and their respective members, partners, managers, stockholders, officers, directors, and employees, who is capable of evaluating investment risks independently, both in general and with regard to the particular transactions and investment strategies relating to our common units and who will be responsible for exercising independent judgment in evaluating such investment. If the prospective ERISA investor cannot make the representations set forth above, the prospective ERISA investor must immediately contact our general partner and the subscription will not be accepted unless specifically agreed to by our general partner.

Prohibited Transactions.    Section 406 of ERISA and Section 4975 of the Code prohibit plans from engaging in specified transactions involving plan assets with persons or entities who are “parties in interest,” within the meaning of ERISA, or “disqualified persons,” within the meaning of Section 4975 of the Code, unless an exemption is available. A party in interest or disqualified person who engages in a non-exempt prohibited transaction may be subject to excise taxes and other penalties and liabilities under ERISA and the Code. In addition, the Plan Fiduciary that engages in such a non-exempt prohibited transaction may be subject to penalties and liabilities under ERISA and the Code. The DOL has issued prohibited transaction class exemptions, or PTCEs that may apply to the acquisition and holding of Interests, although there can be no assurance that all of the conditions of any such exemptions will be satisfied. These class exemptions include, without limitation, PTCE 84-14 respecting transactions determined by independent qualified professional asset managers, PTCE 90-1 respecting insurance company pooled separate accounts, PTCE 91-38 respecting bank collective investment funds, PTCE 95-60 respecting life insurance company general accounts, and PTCE 96-23 respecting transactions determined by in-house asset managers. Because of the foregoing, our common units should not be purchased or held by any plan, unless such purchase and holding will not constitute a non-exempt prohibited transaction under ERISA and the Code or violation of any applicable similar laws. By its purchase, each prospective investor will be deemed to have represented that either (i) it is not a plan that is subject to the prohibited transaction rules of ERISA or the Code, (ii) it is not an entity whose assets include assets of a plan or (iii) its investment in the Fund will not constitute a non-exempt prohibited transaction under ERISA or the Code.

Plan Assets.    The DOL has adopted regulations that treat the assets of certain pooled investment vehicles as “plan assets” (the “look-through rule”) for purposes of the reporting, disclosure, prohibited transaction and fiduciary responsibility provisions of ERISA and the Code. Section 3(42) of ERISA defines the term “Plan Assets” to mean plan assets as defined by such regulations as the DOL may prescribe. In addition to considering whether the purchase of common units is a prohibited transaction, a fiduciary of an employee benefit plan should consider whether the plan will, by investing in us, be deemed to own an undivided interest in our assets, with the result that our operations would be subject to the regulatory restrictions of ERISA, including its prohibited transaction rules, as well as the prohibited transaction rules of the Internal Revenue Code and any other applicable Similar Laws. The term “Benefit Plan Investors” includes any employee benefit plan subject to part 4

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of subtitle B of Title I of ERISA (i.e., plans subject to the fiduciary provisions of ERISA), any plan to which the prohibited transaction provisions of Section 4975 of the Code apply (e.g., IRAs and Keogh plans), and any entity whose underlying assets include Plan Assets by reason of a Plan’s investment in such entity (a “Plan Asset Entity”).

The Department of Labor plan assets regulations provide guidance with respect to whether the assets of an entity in which employee benefit plans acquire equity interests would be deemed “plan assets” under some circumstances. Under these regulations, an entity’s assets would not be considered to be “plan assets” if, among other things:

We believe that the look through rule will not apply to an investment in our common units and the underlying interests in the partnership will not be considered plan assets, during any period that our common units are publicly offered securities. If the underlying assets of the partnership or the Operating Company are considered assets of Benefit Plan Investors, our general partner, as a fiduciary of the partnership, will be a “party in interest” as defined in ERISA and a “disqualified person” as defined in the Code with respect to the plan. Generally, the fiduciary provisions of ERISA require fiduciaries of a plan to act for the exclusive benefit of the participants and the beneficiaries of the plans whose assets they manage, to employ the care, skill, prudence and diligence that a prudent man acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims, to diversify investments so as to minimize the risks of large losses, and to comply with constituent documents of such plans. The Plan Fiduciary of a plan, and not our general partner as an investment manager of only a portion of a plan’s assets, is responsible for the overall diversification of the assets of such plan.

If the underlying assets of the partnership or the Operating Company are considered assets of Benefit Plan Investors under ERISA and a prohibited transaction were to occur, or the acquisition of our common units by a Benefit Plan Investor were to constitute a prohibited transaction, and no exemption were available, then our general partner and any other Plan Fiduciary or “party in interest” that has engaged in the prohibited transaction could be required (i) to restore to the plan any profit realized on the transaction and (ii) to reimburse the plan for any losses suffered by the plan as a result of such investment. In addition, each “disqualified person” (within the meaning of Code section 4975) involved could be subject to an excise tax equal to 15% of the amount involved in the prohibited transaction for each year such transaction continues and, unless such transaction were corrected within statutorily required periods, to an additional tax of 100%. Plan Fiduciaries who decide to invest in or common units could, under certain circumstances, be liable for prohibited transactions or other violations as a result of their investing in our common units or as co-fiduciaries for actions taken by or on behalf of the partnership, our general partner, or the Operating Company. The DOL also may assess an additional 5% civil penalty on a prohibited transaction and is required to assess a 20% civil penalty on any amount recovered from a Plan Fiduciary or from any other person who knowingly participates in a breach of fiduciary responsibility by a Plan Fiduciary if such amount is recovered pursuant to a settlement with the DOL or ordered by a court. This mandatory 20% civil penalty is reduced by the amount of any other civil penalty or excise tax imposed in connection with a prohibited transaction. For IRAs that invest in our common units, the occurrence of a prohibited transaction involving the individual who established the IRA, or his or her beneficiaries, could cause the IRA to lose its tax-exempt status.

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Furthermore, unless appropriate administrative exemptions were available or were obtained, the partnership would be restricted from acquiring an otherwise desirable investment or from entering into an otherwise favorable transaction, if such acquisition or transaction would constitute a “prohibited transaction.”

The information contained herein and in the other documentation provided to investors in connection with an investment in our common units is intended to satisfy the alternative reporting option for “eligible indirect compensation” on Schedule C of the Form 5500, in addition to the other purposes for which such documents were created. PLAN FIDUCIARIES CONTEMPLATING A PURCHASE OF COMMON UNITS SHOULD CONSULT WITH THEIR OWN COUNSEL REGARDING THE CONSEQUENCES UNDER ERISA, THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE AND ANY OTHER APPLICABLE SIMILAR LAWS IN LIGHT OF THE SERIOUS PENALTIES IMPOSED ON PERSONS WHO ENGAGE IN PROHIBITED TRANSACTIONS OR OTHER VIOLATIONS.

The foregoing discussion is general in nature and is not intended to be all-inclusive. Due to the complexity of these rules and the penalties that may be imposed upon persons involved in non-exempt prohibited transactions, it is particularly important that Plan Fiduciaries, or other persons considering purchasing our common units on behalf of, or with the assets of, any plan, consult with their counsel regarding the potential applicability of ERISA, Section 4975 of the Code and any similar laws to such investment and whether an exemption would be applicable to the purchase and holding of the common units. Acceptance of subscriptions on behalf of Benefit Plan Investors is in no respect a representation by the partnership, our general partner, the Operating Company or any other party that this investment meets all relevant legal requirements with respect to investments by any particular plan. A Plan Fiduciary, by investing in our common units, signifies its informed consent to the risks involved in doing so and to the business terms of the partnership. Moreover, similar laws governing the investment and management of the assets of governmental, certain church or non-U.S. plans may contain fiduciary and prohibited transaction requirements similar to those under ERISA and the Code (as discussed above). Accordingly, fiduciaries of such governmental, church or non-U.S. plans, in consultation with their advisors, should consider the effect of their respective laws and regulations on an investment in our common units and the considerations discussed above, if applicable.

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SELLING UNITHOLDERS

This prospectus covers the offering for resale from time to time, in one or more offerings, of up to 56,084,847 common units representing limited partner interests in Viper Energy Partners LP out of the 73,150,000 common units beneficially owned as of the date of this prospectus by Diamondback, the selling unitholder identified in the table below. The number of common units that may be offered for resale by Diamondback pursuant to this prospectus represents (i) up to a maximum of 55,353,347 common units issuable to Diamondback upon exercise by Diamondback of its exchange right pursuant to the Exchange Agreement and Diamondback’s tender to us of an equivalent number of our outstanding Class B Units and outstanding OpCo Units, in each case held by Diamondback as of the date of this prospectus and (ii) 731,500 common units held by Diamondback as of the date of this prospectus. All Class B Units and OpCo Units held by Diamondback as of the date of this prospectus were issued to Diamondback in the Recapitalization Transaction on May 9, 2018 in exchange for an equal number of common units Diamondback had acquired in connection with our IPO on June 23, 2014 and in subsequent underwritten common unit offerings.

The selling unitholder will determine the prices and terms of the sales at the time of each offering made by it, and will be responsible for any fees, discounts or selling commissions due to brokers, dealers or agents. We will pay all of the other offering expenses. We will not receive any of the proceeds from any sale of the securities sold by the selling unitholder pursuant to this prospectus.

The following table sets forth information relating to the selling unitholder based on information supplied to us by the selling unitholder on or prior to the time of the initial filing of the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. We have not sought to verify such information. Information concerning the selling unitholder may change over time, and if necessary, we will supplement this prospectus accordingly. The selling unitholder may hold or acquire at any time common units in addition to those offered by this prospectus and may have acquired additional common units since the date on which the information reflected herein was provided to us. In addition, the selling unitholder may have sold, transferred or otherwise disposed of some or all of its common units since the date on which the information reflected herein was provided to us and may in the future sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of some or all of its common units in private placement transactions exempt from or not subject to the registration requirements of the Securities Act. Assuming the sale of all common units beneficially owned by them set forth in the table below, the selling unitholder will hold no units upon completion of the offering.

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In making offers and sales pursuant to this prospectus, the selling unitholder is deemed to be acting as an underwriter, and its offers and sales are deemed to be made indirectly on our behalf.

Our Relationship with Diamondback

We were formed by Diamondback in February 2014 to, among other things, own, acquire and exploit oil and natural gas properties in North America. As of July 15, 2018, our general partner held a 100% general partner interest in the partnership and Diamondback had an approximate 64% limited partner interest in the partnership. Diamondback owns and controls our general partner, and two of Diamondback’s directors and certain of Diamondback’s executive officers serve as directors and/or executive officers of our general partner. Diamondback provides management, operating and administrative services to us and our general partner. We have also engaged from time to time in certain purchase and sale transactions with Diamondback and/or its affiliates. In connection with our initial public offering, we entered into a registration rights agreement pursuant to which we are required to file a registration statement to register common units owned by Diamondback. In addition, under our partnership agreement we have agreed to register for resale under the Securities Act any common units proposed to be sold by our general partner or any of its affiliates or their assignees.

For further information on our relationship with Diamondback, please read the documents referenced in “Where You Can Find More Information.”

Other Selling Unitholders

This prospectus may also be used by other selling unitholders that will be identified in an applicable prospectus supplement in connection with resales, from time to time in one or more offerings, of our common units held by such other selling unitholders as described in the applicable prospectus supplement. See “Plan of Distribution – Sales by Other Selling Unitholders.”

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PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

We and the selling unitholders may, from time to time, sell securities described in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement through underwriters, through broker-dealers, through agents, directly to one or more purchasers, through a combination of any of the foregoing methods of sale, or through any other method permitted by applicable law.

In addition, we or the selling unitholders may also from time to time sell securities in compliance with Rule 144 under the Securities Act, if available, or pursuant to other available exemptions from the registration requirements under the Securities Act, rather than pursuant to this prospectus. In such event, we and the selling unitholders, if applicable, may be required by the securities laws of certain states to offer and sell the common units only through registered or licensed brokers or dealers.

We or the selling unitholders may set the price or prices of our securities at:

We or the selling unitholders may change the price of the securities offered from time to time.

The selling unitholders may act independently of us in making decisions with respect to the timing, manner and size of each of their sales.

From time to time, the selling unitholders may pledge or grant a security interest in some or all of the securities in respect of which this prospectus is delivered. If a selling unitholder defaults in performance of its secured obligations, the pledged or secured parties may offer and sell the securities from time to time by this prospectus. The selling unitholders also may transfer the securities in other circumstances. The number of securities beneficially owned by the selling unitholders will decrease as and when they transfer their securities or defaults in performing obligations secured by the securities. The plan of distribution for the securities offered and sold under this prospectus will otherwise remain unchanged, except that the transferees, distributees, pledgees, affiliates, other secured parties or other successors in interest will be selling unitholders for purposes of this prospectus.

Broker-dealers or other persons may receive discounts or commissions from us or the selling unitholders, or they may receive commissions from purchasers of common units for whom they acted as agents, or both. Any of such discounts or commissions might be in excess of those customary in the types of transactions involved. Broker-dealers or other persons engaged by us or the selling unitholders may allow other broker-dealers or other persons to participate in resales. We and the selling unitholders may agree to indemnify any broker-dealer or agent against certain liabilities related to the selling of the securities, including liabilities arising under the Securities Act. If a broker-dealer purchases securities as a principal, it may resell the securities for its own account under this prospectus. A distribution of the securities by us or the selling unitholders may also be effected through the issuance by us or the selling unitholders or others of derivative securities, including warrants, exchangeable securities, forward delivery contracts and the writing of options.

If we or the selling unitholders sell the securities in respect of which this prospectus is delivered in an underwritten offering, the underwriters may acquire the securities for their own account and resell the securities from time to time in one or more transactions, including negotiated transactions, at a fixed public offering price

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or at varying prices determined at the time of sale. In any such event described above in this paragraph, we will set forth in a supplement to this prospectus the names of the underwriters and the terms of the transactions, including any underwriting discounts, concessions or commissions and other items constituting compensation of the underwriters and broker-dealers. The underwriters from time to time may change any public offering price and any discounts, concessions or commissions allowed or reallowed or paid to broker-dealers. Unless otherwise set forth in a supplement, the obligations of the underwriters to purchase the securities will be subject to certain conditions, and the underwriters will be obligated to purchase all of the securities specified in the supplement if they purchase any of the securities.

If a prospectus supplement so indicates, we or the selling unitholders may authorize agents, underwriters or dealers to solicit offers by certain institutional investors to purchase these securities to which such prospectus supplement relates, providing for payment and delivery on a future date specified in such prospectus supplement. There may be limitations on the minimum amount that may be purchased by any such institutional investor or on the number of these securities that may be sold pursuant to such arrangements. Agents, dealers or underwriters will not have any responsibility in respect of the validity of such arrangements or such institutional investors thereunder.

The aggregate proceeds to the selling unitholders from the sale of the securities will be the purchase price of the units less the aggregate agents’ discounts or commissions, if any, and other expenses of the distribution not borne by us. We have agreed to pay all expenses incidental to the registration and sale of securities by the selling unitholders other than underwriting discounts and commissions. The aggregate proceeds to us from the sale of the securities will be the purchase price of the units less the aggregate agents’ discounts or commissions, if any, and other expenses of the distribution. The selling unitholders and any agent, broker or dealer that participates in sales of securities offered by this prospectus may be deemed “underwriters” under the Securities Act and any profits, commissions or other consideration received by any agent, broker or dealer may be considered underwriting discounts or commissions under the Securities Act. We or the selling unitholders may agree to indemnify any agent, broker or dealer that participates in sales of securities against liabilities arising under the Securities Act from sales of such securities.

We or the selling unitholders may offer the common units covered by this prospectus into an existing trading market on the terms described in the prospectus supplement relating thereto. Underwriters or agents could make sales in privately negotiated transactions and/or any other method permitted by law, including sales deemed to be an “at the market” offering as defined in Rule 415 promulgated under the Securities Act, which includes sales made directly on or through the Nasdaq Global Market, the existing trading market for our common units, or sales made to or through a market maker other than on an exchange. Underwriters and agents who participate in any at-the-market offerings will be described in the prospectus supplement relating thereto.

Any of our or the selling unitholders’ underwriters or agents or any of either of their affiliates may be customers of, engage in transactions with and perform services for us and/or the selling unitholders or its affiliates in the ordinary course of business.

Because the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc., or FINRA, views our common units as interests in a direct participation program, any offering of common units under the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part will be made in compliance with Rule 2310 of the FINRA Conduct Rules.

We have informed the selling unitholders that during such time as they may be engaged in a distribution of the common units covered by this prospectus they are required to comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act. With exceptions, Regulation M prohibits the selling unitholders, any affiliated purchasers and other persons who participate in such a distribution from bidding for or purchasing, or attempting to induce any person to bid for or purchase, any security which is the subject of the distribution until the entire distribution is complete.

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We have informed the selling unitholders that they are legally required to deliver copies of this prospectus in connection with any sale of securities made under this prospectus in accordance with applicable prospectus delivery requirements.

To the extent required, this prospectus may be amended or supplemented from time to time to describe a specific plan of distribution. The place and time of delivery for the securities in respect of which this prospectus is delivered will be set forth in the accompanying prospectus supplement.

In connection with offerings of securities under the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part and in compliance with applicable law, underwriters, brokers, or dealers may engage in transactions that stabilize or maintain the market price of the securities at levels above those that might otherwise prevail in the open market. Specifically, underwriters, brokers, or dealers may over-allot in connection with offerings, creating a short position in the securities for their own accounts. For the purpose of covering a syndicate short position or stabilizing the price of the securities, the underwriters, brokers, or dealers may place bids for the securities or effect purchases of the securities in the open market. Finally, the underwriters may impose a penalty whereby selling concessions allowed to syndicate members or other brokers or dealers for distribution of the securities in offerings may be reclaimed by the syndicate if the syndicate repurchases previously distributed securities in transactions to cover short positions, in stabilization transactions or otherwise. These activities may stabilize, maintain, or otherwise affect the market price of the securities, which may be higher than the price that might otherwise prevail in the open market, and, if commenced, may be discontinued at any time.

Sales by Other Selling Unitholders

This prospectus may also be used by other selling unitholders that will in the future be identified in an applicable prospectus supplement in connection with resales, from time to time in one or more offerings, of our common units held by such selling unitholders as described in the applicable prospectus supplement. The applicable prospectus supplement will identify such other selling unitholders, the terms of offering of common units and any material relationships we have with such selling unitholders. Such selling unitholders may include certain of our affiliates. Selling unitholders may be deemed to be underwriters under the Securities Act in connection with our common units they resell and any profits on such sales may be deemed to be underwriting discounts and commissions under the Securities Act. Unless otherwise provided in an applicable prospectus supplement, the selling unitholders will receive all the proceeds from the sale of their common units. We may pay all expenses incurred with respect to the registration of the common units owned by such other selling unitholders, other than underwriting fees, discounts or commissions, which will be borne by such selling unitholders.

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LEGAL MATTERS

The validity of the issuance of the securities offered in this prospectus will be passed upon by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. If certain legal matters in connection with an offering of the securities made by this prospectus and a related prospectus supplement are passed on by counsel for the selling unitholders or underwriters of such offering, that counsel will be named in the applicable prospectus supplement related to that offering.

EXPERTS

The audited consolidated financial statements incorporated by reference in this prospectus and elsewhere in the registration statement, have been so incorporated by reference in reliance upon the report of Grant Thornton LLP, independent registered public accountants, upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

Information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus regarding our estimated quantities of oil and gas reserves and the discounted present value of future net cash flows therefrom is based upon estimates of such reserves and present values prepared by Ryder Scott Company, L.P., an independent petroleum engineering firm, as of December 31, 2017 and 2016. This information is included or incorporated by reference herein in reliance upon the authority of said firm as experts in these matters.

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PART II

INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN PROSPECTUS

The following sets forth the expenses in connection with the issuance and distribution of the securities being registered hereby, other than underwriting discounts and commissions. All amounts shown are estimated, except the SEC registration fee, and will be borne by the registrant.

The section of the prospectus entitled “The Partnership Agreement—Indemnification” is incorporated herein by reference and discloses that we generally indemnify the directors, officers and affiliates of the general partner to the fullest extent permitted by law against all losses, claims, damages or similar events. Subject to any terms, conditions or restrictions set forth in the partnership agreement, Section 17-108 of the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act empowers a Delaware limited partnership to indemnify and hold harmless any partner or other person from and against all claims and demands whatsoever.

Section 18-108 of the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act provides that a Delaware limited liability company may indemnify and hold harmless any member or manager or other person from and against any and all claims and demands whatsoever. The limited liability company agreement of Viper Energy Partners GP LLC, our general partner, provides for the indemnification of its directors and officers against liabilities they incur in their capacities as such. We and our general partner have also entered into indemnification agreements with each of the current directors and executive officers of our general partner. These agreements require us to indemnify these individuals to the fullest extent permitted by law against expenses incurred as a result of any proceeding in which they are involved by reason of their service to us and, if requested, to advance expenses incurred as a result of any such proceeding. We also intend to enter into indemnification agreements with future directors and executive officers of our general partner.

Any underwriting agreement entered into in connection with the sale of the securities offered pursuant to this registration statement will provide for indemnification of officers and directors of the general partner, including indemnification against liabilities under the Securities Act.

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provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i), (a)(1)(ii) and (a)(1)(iii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the SEC by the registrant pursuant to section 13 or section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement, or is contained in a form of prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) that is part of the registration statement.

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the undersigned Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-3 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Midland, in the State of Texas, on July 30, 2018.

Each person whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints Travis D. Stice, Randall J. Holder and Teresa L. Dick, and each of them, any of whom may act without the joinder of the other, as their true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement and any Registration Statement (including any amendment thereto) for this offering that is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done, as fully to all intents and purposes as he or she might or would do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them or their or his or her substitute and substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates presented.