Excelerate Energy, which operates a fleet of floating natural gas import terminals around the world, is raising hundreds of millions of dollars on the US stock market in a sign that the global energy crisis may be rekindling investor appetite for fossil fuels.

The Texas-based liquefied natural gas company, controlled by billionaire oilman George Kaiser, raised $384mn in an initial public offering on Wednesday, valuing the company at about $2.5bn. The deal was the first oil and gas IPO in more than a year.

Shares opened at $28.20, 18 per cent above the offering price of $24, which was already at the top of the company’s target range.

“I think Russia’s war in Ukraine is one of the most significant events in energy in decades, and it’s awakening people all over the world to the need for energy security,” Steven Kobos, Excelerate’s chief executive, told the Financial Times. “That’s going to provide tailwinds for those players who operate in the space we do.”

Excelerate, which will list on the New York Stock Exchange, owns a fleet of 10 floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), about 20 per cent of all such vessels.

FSRUs, which can be moored near coastlines to import LNG, can typically be built and deployed more quickly than permanent structures to unload and vaporise the super-chilled fuel. Excelerate’s competitors include New Fortress Energy of the US, Norway’s Hoegh LNG and Greece-based GasLog.

Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted a scramble in Europe to secure new gas supplies on global markets as it tries to wean itself off of Russian pipeline supply. Joe Biden, US president, struck a deal in March with Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, to export more US LNG to the continent.

German and other European officials have said they will try to secure FSRUs to boost near-term import capacity into the continent before new infrastructure can be built.

Kobos said that Excelerate had a project in Albania that would bring more gas into the EU, and that he expected “opportunistic plays along the way”.

“Europe may have a couple of projects online as early as this winter. But I think you’re going to see this play out over some time in Europe, if they’re going to have a meaningful decrease in their reliance on Russian gas,” he said.

Investors have flooded into energy stocks this year, including major LNG companies, as prices for crude and natural gas have surged, sending share prices soaring after years of lacklustre performance. The S&P energy index is up about 33 per cent this year, making it the market’s best-performing sector.

Excelerate’s IPO will be watched closely as a test of investor appetite for new oil and gas listings, which have dried up in recent years on poor returns in the industry and because of doubts about fossil fuel demand as policymakers take aim at carbon emissions.

It will also be watched by bankers and other prospective IPO candidates as a tentative sign that the market is beginning to reopen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a sharp increase in market volatility.

Excelerate is just the second company to raise more than $250mn in a US IPO this year, and the first in three months. The company had initially aimed to list in late January or early February, but delayed its plans as markets wavered.

One banker who worked on the deal said it was an encouraging sign for the wider market, but predicted that companies would remain cautious: “This is probably somewhat of a bespoke situation . . . how it trades will hopefully encourage investors to look at being supportive to IPOs more generally, but I don’t expect a bunch of deals to suddenly come next week,” the banker said.

Barclays, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were lead underwriters on the offering.