One of the largest wholly foreign-owned projects in China by American ExxonMobil, Huizhou Ethylene, commences operation.

According to CCTV News, on July 15th, the ExxonMobil Huizhou Ethylene Project commencement ceremony was held in the Huizhou Daya Bay Economic and Technological Development Zone (Daya Bay Development Zone). This is one of the national major foreign investment projects and the first major petrochemical project wholly-owned and constructed by an American enterprise in China. Its high-end chemical products will effectively meet the domestic market demand.

As a world-class chemical complex, the project can produce 1.6 million tons of ethylene and 2.65 million tons of polyethylene and polypropylene annually. After the project commences operation, it will effectively reduce China's market dependence on high-performance polyolefin imports.

The ExxonMobil Huizhou Ethylene Project is not only one of the first seven major foreign investment projects in the country but also one of the US$10 billion-level projects introduced by Guangdong in recent years. The ExxonMobil Huizhou Ethylene Project has completed the construction of a flexible-feed steam cracking unit with an annual output of 1.6 million tons of ethylene, two sets of high-performance linear low-density polyethylene units with a combined annual output of 1.2 million tons, a world's largest single-unit low-density polyethylene unit with an annual output of 500,000 tons, and two sets of differentiated high-performance polypropylene units with a combined annual output of 950,000 tons.

It took only 4 months from ExxonMobil's senior management's first visit to Huizhou in May 2017 to the signing of a strategic cooperation framework agreement between the two parties, setting a new record for investment attraction in Huizhou. The project commenced construction in April 2020 and was completed ahead of schedule within budget. Tan Ranke, Chairman of ExxonMobil China, praised: "This is thanks to the cooperation and support from ExxonMobil, our partners, and governments at all levels in Guangdong Province."

In February 2023, the construction of the ExxonMobil Daya Bay Research and Development Center began. The Daya Bay R&D Center project is equipped with the first pilot plant for polypropylene outside of its North American headquarters, which will accelerate the development of differentiated high-performance polypropylene, focusing on areas such as basic chemical research and product process development. In December 2024, the administrative building of the ExxonMobil Daya Bay Research and Development Center was put into use. The completion of the ExxonMobil R&D Center further empowers technological self-reliance in the petrochemical industry in Huizhou and even Guangdong Province, contributing to the high-quality development of Guangdong's petrochemical industry.

According to Huizheng Information, the Huizhou Daya Bay Petrochemical Industrial Park has currently attracted 125 projects with a total investment of 332.4 billion yuan, forming advantageous industrial chains such as C2, C3, C4, aromatics, and electronic chemicals. In 2024, the Daya Bay Petrochemical Industrial Park achieved a total industrial output value of 267 billion yuan, an increase of 13.9%. The park has a total refining capacity of 22 million tons per year and an ethylene production capacity of 3.8 million tons per year, with its integrated refining and chemical scale ranking among the top in the country.

Daya Bay Economic and Technological Development Zone is benchmarking against advanced experiences from places like Jurong in Singapore, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Antwerp in Belgium, moving forward by aligning with world-class standards to promote the high-end, intelligent, and green development of its petrochemical zone. The Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government have tasked Huizhou with building a global petrochemical industry highland, requiring Huizhou to achieve greater accomplishments in new materials. It is specified that by 2027, the petrochemical industry will form an annual production capacity of 5.4 million tons of ethylene and 6.6 million tons of high-end polyolefins, with energy and water efficiency in key areas reaching benchmark levels. By 2035, the petrochemical energy and new materials industry will rank among the world's best, establishing a world-class petrochemical industry highland.