PetroChina has lost its crown as the world's most valuable company to ExxonMobil Corp following the stock market slump, as the nation's largest oil producer celebrated the first anniversary of its A-share listing.
PetroChina catapulted into the global spotlight on its trading debut on November 5 last year when it surged 191 per cent to 48.62 yuan from the offer price of 16.70 yuan, overtaking US firm ExxonMobil as the world's No1 oil producer by market capitalisation.
Since then, the stock has slid as concerns it was overvalued worsened amid the global financial crisis.
Based on yesterday's closing price, about 7 trillion yuan (HK$7.95 trillion) of PetroChina's market value - nearly 80 per cent of the year-ago level - has evaporated.
PetroChina floated 4 billion shares or 2.2 per cent of its enlarged capital on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Its 21.1 billion shares are traded in Hong Kong. The remaining 157.9 billion shares are state-owned and locked up until November 2010.
Based on Wednesday's closing price, ExxonMobil was valued at US$394.16 billion. PetroChina's A shares ended at 10.33 yuan yesterday, translating into a market value of 1.89 trillion yuan or US$276.9 billion.
Its H shares closed at HK$5.88, a 52.4 per cent discount to their A-share counterparts, but the market value is based on the A shares, which account for most of its shares.