Spec....ouch......paying tax on monies not received would not be a pleasant thing. What if the LP was structured so that ALL income (minus expenses of course) were returned to shareholders???? Any and all profits realized returned to shareholders. You would never have to worry about taxes having to be paid on income you didn't receive.
XOM and other oil and gas co's pay out a small percentage of profit to shareholders in the form of dividend. In a properly structured LP deal, shareholders would reap ALL of the profit (income minus due expenses) in the form of dividends. Simply a matter of how the LP is structured?