Economy

FT: PetroChina world's most valuable company

By Xie Jingwei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-05-31 14:15

For the first time, a Chinese company has overtaken Exxon Mobil as the world's most valuable company, according to a ranking released by Financial Times May 30.

PetroChina, China' biggest oil and gas producer, made the top of the British newspaper's latest annual ranking with a market capitalization of $329.3 billion.

The 14th annual ranking of the Financial Time Global 500 provides a yearly snapshot of the world's largest companies. The total market capitalization of the Global 500 companies has increased by 50 percent from $15.6 billion to $23.5 billion.

Three Chinese companies made the top 10: PetroChina at No 1, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China at No 4 and China Mobile at No 10 on the list.

Twenty-one mainland enterprises were on this year's Global 500 list, down from 27 last year. The three companies that were on last year's list, but not among this year's rankings, are Shanghai Electric, Datang International Power Generation Co Ltd and Zijin Mining.

"PetroChina has benefited a lot from China's economic environment," said Dong Xiucheng, deputy director of the Business and Management School at the China University of Petroleum.

Dong said Exxon Mobil and Shell's market values were dragged down by the prolonged financial crisis grinding Europe and the United States, while PetroChina made more headway in China.

However, Dong added that market value has less weight than sales volume when it comes to judging a company's overall strength.