Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) has long held the title of the world's largest oil company, but some analysts are starting to question whether it will be able to keep its crown, as the Chinese oil company PetroChina Corp. (NYSE: PTR) is quickly closing the gap.As it stands now, Exxon Mobil still holds the No. 1 slot with a market capitalization of $506 billion. With a little over $443 billion market capitalization, PetroChina is the world's second-largest company, having recently surpassed General Electric (NYSE: GE). This gap is definitely going to shrink early next month when PetroChina debuts on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
PetroChina announced last night that it expects to raise around $8.9 billion when it begins trading on the Shanghai exchange on November 5. Many analysts think that this number is way too conservative, but even at this level this would make the PTR debut the largest IPO of the world, and bring the company within striking range of Exxon Mobil's top position.
Some analysts are already predicting that the new shares will rise enough on opening day to push PetroChina ahead of Exxon Mobil in market capitalization. Earlier this week Chinese brokerage Ping An Securities stated in a report to investors that it expects PetroChina's new shares to trade up to 39.50-43.45 yuan on listing day. This would be enough to give PTR the title of the world's largest company.
Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer
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