PetroChina has become world’s 1st $1 trillion company

PetroChina became the world’s first company worth more than US$1 trillion on Tuesday, shooting past Exxon Mobil as the Chinese oil producer’s shares nearly tripled in their first day of trading in China.

A unit of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp, PetroChina is the country’s biggest oil and gas producer. Its Shanghai initial public offering of 4 billion shares raised 66.8 billion yuan, or US$8.94 billion (AU$9.71 billion) — a record for a mainland bourse.

Adding the value of shares traded in other cities with those still owned by the government, the company’s total market worth ballooned to just over US$1 trillion — compared to Exxon Mobil’s US$488 billion.

However, 85% of the shares are still held by the state and are unlikely to trade in the market any time soon.

The company has said it plans to use around 37.8 billion yuan (US$5 billion) of the proceeds from the float to help finance five projects aimed at boosting output and refining capacity at its ageing oil fields.