SHANGHAI (Reuters) —China’s largest oil company CNOOC Ltd surged 44% during its Shanghai debut, Thursday. It raised 28.08 Billion Yuan ($4.41B) in China’s 11th-largest public stock sale.

Stock traded on Shanghai Stock Exchange starting at 12.96yuan. That’s 20% less than the offer price of 10.8yuan.

After exceeding the limit on daily new listing, the Shanghai Stock Exchange stopped trading in this oil-rich giant. They cited abnormal fluctuation as the reason. Hong Kong shares of CNOOC had risen by 3%.

China’s biggest offshore oil producer CNOOC stated that it will use share sales proceeds to finance one and seven projects in China, as well as replenish capital.

Shanghai was sold after CNOOC, which had been removed from the New York Stock Exchange’s delisting in October due to Washington adding the company to a blacklist for trade citing possible links to the Chinese military.

Already listed in Shanghai are state-backed competitors PetroChina (NYSE:) and Sinopec.