Noble Midstream Partners LP, the pipeline partnership backed by Noble Energy Inc., climbed 18 percent at the open after raising $281 million in its initial public offering.
The company sold 12.5 million shares for $22.50 each, above the marketed range of $19 to $21, in the first IPO of an oil and gas or pipeline company this year. Noble Midstream had delayed its offering in November, citing unfavorable market conditions.
Shares opened at $26.50 on Thursday, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NBLX. They climbed to $26.93 at 10:26 a.m., giving Noble Midstream a market value of about $857 million.
Noble Midstream will operate as a master-limited partnership, or MLP, which returns most of its income to shareholders while allowing the parent company to control the assets.
Noble Midstream owns and develops midstream assets for its parent company. The MLP currently provides crude oil, natural gas and water-related midstream services on 300,000 acres in the Denver-Julesburg basin in Colorado. The company also has about 40,000 acres in the Delaware Basin within Texas’s Permian Basin.
Noble Midstream posted net income of $38 million in 2015 on revenue of $92.5 million. The previous year, the company had a net loss of $15.1 million on revenue of $5.9 million.
Barclays Plc, Robert W. Baird & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. led the offering.