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Chinese oil giant PetroChina has become the world's largest firm by market value, overtaking US rival Exxon Mobil.

PetroChina's share price almost tripled during the company's debut on the Shanghai stock exchange, giving the oil firm a market value of around $1 trillion (£479.8 billion).

The increase saw China's biggest oil and gas producer leapfrog Exxon Mobil as the world's biggest company, with the latter's $488 billion market capitalisation having previously entitled it to the crown.

PetroChina's soaring share price in China also makes the company worth almost twice as much as the combined value of oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and BP.

But analysts have suggested that PetroChina's opening price is too high, with the performance of its stock in China having been driven by market speculation.

Shares in PetroChina were floated at 16.7 yuan (107p), in the world's largest initial public offering (IPO) this year and the biggest in the history of mainland China. The company, whose shares already trade in Hong Kong, raised $9 billion (£4.3 billion) from the flotation - despite offering only two per cent of its stock for trading on the Shanghai market.

The company's share price subsequently soared from its debut rate to close at 43.96 yuan (284p).

While the performance of PetroChina's stock underlines investor confidence in China's booming economy, some analysts have warned that the company's soaring share price is also being driven by speculators seeking to make a quick profit on the country's stock market.

"The opening price is really too high as far as PetroChina's corporate fundamentals are concerned," industry analyst Wang Jing, from Orient Securities in Shanghai, told the Reuters news agency.