PetroChina was the first publicly traded company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization in China.
PetroChina briefly reached a valuation of about $1 trillion on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in November 2007. The milestone made it one of the world’s most valuable listed companies at that time, although its share price later declined substantially from the peak.
PetroChina is the publicly listed arm of China National Petroleum Corporation, one of China’s major state-owned energy groups. Its activities include exploration, production, refining, transportation, marketing, and natural gas operations. Because energy companies are affected by commodity prices and government policy, their market valuations can change sharply.
The 2007 milestone is often confused with later technology-company records involving Alibaba or Tencent. PetroChina’s achievement came during a period of strong enthusiasm in Chinese equities and high global oil prices. A temporary market-cap peak should not be read as a permanent ranking or as a measure of cash held by the company.