PetroChina briefly became the first company ever to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization during its 2007 Shanghai listing.
On November 5, 2007, PetroChina shares surged on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, taking the company’s implied value above $1 trillion during its debut trading session. The rise was short-lived, and the stock later fell sharply, so this milestone is often described as a brief intraday achievement rather than a long-lasting valuation.
PetroChina is the listed oil and gas arm of China National Petroleum Corporation, one of China’s major state-owned energy groups. Its Shanghai A-share listing attracted enormous demand from domestic investors, while its Hong Kong-listed shares had already been trading internationally.
This event is sometimes confused with Apple’s 2018 milestone. Apple was the first U.S. public company to reach $1 trillion, whereas PetroChina reached the level first worldwide, albeit briefly.