PetroChina became the first public company valued above $1 trillion outside the United States.
PetroChina briefly reached a market capitalization above $1 trillion when its Shanghai-listed shares began trading in November 2007. The surge made it the world’s largest company by market value at that moment, although the valuation later fell sharply.
PetroChina is the publicly traded arm of China National Petroleum Corporation, one of China’s major state-owned energy groups. Its business includes exploration, production, refining, chemicals, pipeline transportation, and fuel marketing.
The episode is a reminder that market-cap records can be temporary and highly sensitive to investor enthusiasm. PetroChina is sometimes confused with Saudi Aramco, which later became the first non-U.S. company to reach much higher trillion-dollar milestones during its 2019 listing.