PetroChina became the first non-American company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization in 2007.
PetroChina reached the milestone on its first day of trading in Shanghai on November 5, 2007. Its shares rose sharply after the initial public offering, briefly giving the company a market value above $1 trillion.
PetroChina is the publicly listed arm of China National Petroleum Corporation, one of China’s major state-owned energy groups. Its operations include oil and natural-gas exploration, production, refining, transportation, and sales.
The valuation later fell substantially as the initial trading surge faded. This is an important market-cap lesson: a company can briefly hold a record because of exceptional investor enthusiasm, even if the valuation does not remain at that level. Market capitalization is a market price, not an official estimate of physical reserves or assets.