PetroChina became the first publicly traded company from China to surpass a $1 trillion market value.
The company reached the milestone on its first day of trading in Shanghai in November 2007. Its shares rose dramatically after the initial public offering, briefly giving PetroChina a valuation above $1 trillion and making it the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization at that moment.
PetroChina is the listed arm of China National Petroleum Corporation, one of China’s major state-owned energy groups. Its businesses include oil and gas exploration, production, refining, transportation, and marketing. The company’s market value was supported by the importance of energy to China’s fast-growing economy and by high oil prices at the time.
The brief valuation was not the same as a cash purchase price for the whole company. PetroChina’s shares later fell substantially, and market-cap rankings changed as commodity prices and investor expectations shifted.