PetroChina becomes first $1 trillion company

PetroChina zoomed past Exxon Mobil Corporation to become the world's first $1 trillion company as investors in China started trading the stock.

PetroChina's Class-A shares almost tripled on their Shanghai debut today valuing the Beijing-based state-owned oil company at as much as $1.1 trillion - more than Exxon and General Electric combined, according to a report on the website of Bloomberg.

PetroChina rose as high as 48.62 yuan from the sale price of 16.7 yuan and closed at 43.96 yuan in Shanghai - giving it a market value of $1 trillion or 55 times earnings.

Exxon is worth $488 billion on the New York Stock Exchange, and trades at 13 times earnings, the report said.

PetroChina had raised 66.8 billion yuan selling 4 billion shares last week.