PetroChina became the world's largest company by market value Monday, worth about one trillion dollars as its shares surged in their debut on the Chinese mainland.
Shares in Asia's top oil and gas producer more than doubled after raising $9 billion in the world's biggest IPO this year, surging past analysts' expectations.
The company had already traded in Hong Kong and New York.
Share value
The shares, priced at 16.7 yuan for the IPO, touched a high of 48.62 yuan shortly after the market's opening, an increase of 191 percent that valued the firm at about 600 billion dollars.
PetroChina's market capitalisation shot past the 1.1 trillion dollar mark in early trade, double the world's second biggest company, rival oil giant Exxon Mobil, before broader market losses of 2.48 percent in Shanghai prompted a retreat to one about trillion dollars.
The IPO of PetroChina, which raised nearly nine billion dollars in its sale of four billion shares, is the world's biggest this year and the largest in mainland China's history.
In terms of earnings, however, PetroChina does not even make it into the top 50 companies of the world.
Despite the massive surge in the company’s shares, the Chinese state will maintain a firm hand in the firm, controlling an 86 percent stake through parent China National Petroleum Corporation.
November 5 2007