PetroChina’s 2007 stock-market debut briefly made it the world’s largest company by market capitalization.
PetroChina shares began trading in Shanghai on November 5, 2007. The stock surged on its first day, briefly giving the company a market value above US$1 trillion and making it the largest company in the world by that measure at that moment.
PetroChina is the publicly traded arm of China National Petroleum Corporation, a major state-owned energy group. Its businesses include oil and gas exploration, refining, chemicals, pipelines, and fuel distribution. The company’s valuation later fell substantially as the initial trading surge faded.
This record is often confused with Saudi Aramco’s 2019 initial public offering. PetroChina was the first company to exceed US$1 trillion in market value, while Saudi Aramco later conducted the largest IPO by money raised at the time.