Jiang Jiemin, President of PetroChina's parent company China National Petroleum Corp., strikes the gong to start the first day's trading of the company's shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

PetroChina's yuan-denominated A shares opened at 48.6 yuan on its first day of trading, almost tripling its issue price of 16.7 yuan. Based on this, the company, China's largest oil and gas producer, is valued at $1.1 trillion, and overtook Exxon Mobil, worth $487.7 billion, as the world's largest listed company by market value.

In October, PetroChina raised 66.8 billion yuan ($8.9 billion) in Shanghai by selling 4 billion A shares, or 2.18 percent of its expanded share capital, in the world's biggest initial public offering so far this year.

PetroChina began trading in Hong Kong in 2000 and its American Depository Receipts were listed on the New York Stock Exchange the same year.

Below: Guests present at a ceremony marking PetroChina's November 5 debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange walk below a billboard showing the company's transaction data.

(Closing share price of PetroChina was 40.73 yuan in Shanghai and HK$17.42 in Hong Kong on November 7; its American Depository Receipts closed at $212.8. As of November 8, $1=7.4210 yuan)