PetroChina, the countrys largest energy company, has launched its long-awaited local initial public offering, which could raise more than $9bn in what would be the largest domestic listing.
中石油IPO的时间也进行了精心安排，以借助中国大陆市场不断攀升的良机。在过去短短两年多的时间里，上海的基准指数已上涨了5倍。
The IPO would also be well timed to take advantage of a soaring local share market. Shanghais benchmark index has increased sixfold in just over two years.
中石油在周日晚间递交上海证交所和香港交易平台的一份声明中表示，该公司计划向投资者发售40亿股A股股票。中石油是中国石油天然气集团企业的子公司。
PetroChina, a unit of China National Petroleum Corp, said in a statement to the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges on Sunday night that it planned to offer 4bn local A-shares for sale to investors2.
这家国有油气集团在9月20日的招股书中曾表示，预计将募筹资金378亿元人民币（合50亿USD），现在看来，这个数字大概被超越。
The state-controlled oil and gas group had said in its prospectus3 on September 20 that it expected to raise Rmb37.8bn , a figure that now could be exceeded.
假如这40亿股A股的发行价定在等于中石油香港股票的水平，那样此次上市可能募筹资金约98亿USD。
If the 4bn A-shares were priced at a level comparable with PetroChinas shares traded in Hong Kong, the listing could raise about $9.8bn.
以基于中石油港股上周收盘价的规范计算，该公司市值为4370亿USD，排名全球第二，超越了通用电气，仅次于埃克森美孚。
PetroChinas market capitalisation, using one measure based on its closing price in Hong Kong last week, was $437bn ranking the company as the worlds second-biggest ahead of General Electric but behind ExxonMobil.
在上海证交所上市后，中石油甚至可能超越埃克森美孚，成为世界上市值最大的上市公司。不过，因为中石油流通股比率非常低，可以说，市值没办法非常不错地体现该企业的真的价值。
After it lists on the Shanghai stock exchange, it could even surpass Exxon to become the worlds most valuable quoted company, although the thin float arguably makes the market value a poor guide to PetroChinas true value.
此等估值基于一个不太可能的假设，即中石油国有母公司持有些全部非流通股，均与流通股等值。
Such valuations are based on the improbable projections4 that all of the companys non-tradable shares still held by the state parent are equal in value to the traded shares.
传统上，A股股票的定价低于香港的H股，而且一般远远低于当地投资者想支付的价格。因此，中国大陆上市的股票在首日上市时一般都会大幅攀升。
A-shares have traditionally been priced at a discount to Hong Kongs H-shares and often well below the price local investors are willing to pay. As a result, locally listed shares traditionally jump sharply on their debut5.
此前最大规模的中国大陆上市公司是中国最大煤炭企业的子公司中国神华。该公司上月在上海募集了89亿USD。中国神华得到了大约30倍的超额认购，股价在上市首日上涨了大约87%。
The largest previous local listing was Shenhua Energy, a unit of Chinas largest coal company, which raised $8.9bn in Shanghai last month. Shenhua Energy was about 30 times oversubscribed and soared by about 87 per cent on its opening trading day.
