PetroChina debuted with a market capitalization above $1 trillion in 2007.
Its Shanghai stock-market listing became one of the most dramatic public-market debuts ever recorded. At the opening price, the company’s implied value briefly exceeded $1 trillion, placing it above major global corporations by market capitalization on that day.
PetroChina is the publicly traded subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, one of China’s major state-owned energy groups. Its activities include oil and gas exploration, production, refining, marketing, and pipeline operations.
The episode illustrates why an initial valuation can differ sharply from a company’s longer-term market value. PetroChina’s shares later traded well below the opening level, and the trillion-dollar figure was a market-cap calculation based on the debut price. It should not be confused with an oil company’s annual revenue, reserves, or government-assigned enterprise value.