ExxonMobil Secures Over RMB 10 Billion for China's Huizhou Ethylene Project as R&D Expansion Advances

The syndicated loan signing ceremony for ExxonMobil's Huizhou Ethylene Phase I Project was recently held in the Daya Bay Development Zone, marking ExxonMobil Corporation's first-ever syndicated loan secured in China. At the same time, construction officially commenced on the expansion of the company's Daya Bay Research and Development Centre laboratory.

On 5 December, ExxonMobil finalised the syndicated financing for the project, with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) acting as the lead arranger. Together with the Bank of China and China Construction Bank, the participating banks will jointly provide over RMB 10 billion, delivering strong financial support for the Huizhou Ethylene Phase I initiative. Senior executives from ExxonMobil were present at the ceremony.

The Huizhou Ethylene Phase I project has deepened ExxonMobil's collaboration with ICBC, Bank of China, and China Construction Bank. Close coordination between the banking teams and the company ensured that the financing process was completed with high efficiency and quality.

Construction has also begun on the expansion of the Daya Bay R&D Centre laboratory. The project will establish a new process testing facility with enhanced analytical capabilities, enabling the company to better address market demands and accelerate the commercialisation of scientific and technological achievements. The expansion will offer stronger technical support to foster new productive forces and promote high-quality development of the petrochemical sector in Huizhou.

The Daya Bay R&D Centre is a core component of ExxonMobil's Huizhou Ethylene Project. It houses the company's first pilot plant in the Asia-Pacific region and focuses on product and process development for high-value-added, differentiated polyolefin materials. The facility forms a complete development chain, spanning laboratory-scale research, pilot-scale upscaling and optimisation, and material characterisation and analysis.

Construction of the R&D Centre began on 15 February 2023, with operations scheduled to commence in December 2024. The facility will feature six pilot production lines. Its launch will strengthen technological self-reliance in Huizhou's and Guangdong's petrochemical industries, supporting the region's high-quality industrial development.

ExxonMobil's Huizhou Ethylene Project officially began operations on 15 July 2025. As one of China's major foreign-invested projects—and the first large-scale petrochemical complex wholly funded by a U.S. enterprise—the facility has an annual production capacity of 1.6 million tonnes of ethylene and 2.65 million tonnes of polyethylene and polypropylene. Its output includes high-value-added basic chemical materials and will play a key role in easing China's structural shortage of polyolefin products, while reducing the nation's reliance on imported high-performance polyolefins.

Within the Daya Bay Petrochemical Zone, six enterprises have established dedicated R&D centres, including Huizhou Capchem Chemical Co., Ltd.; Guangdong Nippon CRF Technology Materials Co., Ltd. (Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Centre for UV-Curable Environmental Materials); Huizhou Huahong New Materials Co., Ltd. (Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Centre for UV-Curable Materials); and Huizhou Renxin New Materials Co., Ltd. Four centres, including that of ExxonMobil (Huizhou) Chemical Co., Ltd., are already completed and operational, while those of CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Limited and Huizhou Capchem Chemical Co., Ltd. remain under construction.

Furthermore, Daya Bay is home to four new R&D institutions jointly developed by the District Administrative Committee and leading research organisations: the Huizhou Research Institute of Sun Yat-sen University, the Huizhou Green Energy and New Materials Research Institute, the Daya Bay Chemical Research Institute of Huizhou University, and the Daya Bay Technology Innovation Research Institute of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. These institutions continue to inject innovation-driven momentum into the development of the petrochemical new materials sector.