Antero Resources (AR) began trading on the NYSE on 10 October 2013

• Antero Resources (AR) is a leading producer of oil and gas in the Marcellus shale region in and around West Virginia.
• Antero has posted triple-digit profit growth in each of the past three quarters. Profit for 2014 is seen rising 145% to $1.59 a share, followed by a 52% gain in 2015.

Antero Resources Corp.’s shares surged in their trading debut, after the gas driller sold more shares than planned in its $1.5 billion initial public offering and priced the deal above its projected range.

Antero, which operates natural-gas and oil wells in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, was up 19% at $52.23 in midmorning trading, after opening up 23% at $54.15.

The Denver-based company, led by energy-industry veterans Paul Rady and Glen Warren, agreed to sell 35.7 million shares late Wednesday–19% more than it had planned–for $44 apiece. Antero had seen the shares fetching $38 to $42 each, according to a regulatory filing.

The deal followed a rally in the shares of energy companies like Antero, which extract oil and gas from the so-called shale rock formations in the U.S. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. gained 42% year-to-date through Wednesday while another peer company, EQT Corp.EQT -1.20%, climbed 47%, outperforming the S&P 500′s 16% advance.

The $1.57 billion deal value, which could increase if underwriters exercise their option to buy additional shares, marks the largest U.S.-listed IPO for an oil-and-gas company since Statoil ASA’s $2.9 billion debut in June 2001, according to Dealogic.

Chief Executive and Chairman Paul Rady formed Antero with President and Chief Financial Officer Glen Warren in 2002. They sold the company’s assets to XTO Energy Inc. for about $1 billion in April 2005 and set out to develop new wells with essentially a new company under a new name.

New York private-equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC invested in Antero in 2003 and again in 2007, according to Warburg’s website. Antero’s financial backers, which also include Yorktown Partners LLC and Trilantic Capital Partners, didn’t sell shares in the offering.

Antero posted $735.7 million in revenue last year, up 6.4% from 2011.

The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “AR.” Barclays PLC led the offering with Citigroup Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.