Recently, the groundbreaking ceremony for the 260,000 tons/year polycarbonate plant and some supporting projects of CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals in Huizhou was held.

The project is located in the Daya Bay Petrochemical Zone, Huiyang District, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, to realize the vision of building a world-class, highly integrated petrochemical base, and to create a world-class petrochemical base that can fill the gap in domestic demand for high-end chemical products and promote the petrochemical industry towards the high end of the global value chain. The project adopts Shell's proprietary technology, featuring low raw material and utility costs, low energy consumption, and safety and environmental protection advantages.

On April 18, 2024, the Huizhou Ecological Environment Bureau publicly displayed the environmental impact assessment documents for the CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Huizhou Polycarbonate Project.

The total investment of the project is 9.3 billion yuan, constructing a 240,000 tons/year bisphenol A plant, a 220,000 tons/year diphenyl carbonate plant, and a 260,000 tons/year polycarbonate plant.

On January 15, 2025, CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Limited (CNOOC and Shell) made the final investment decision to expand its petrochemical complex located in Daya Bay, Huizhou, southern China. The expansion project is expected to be completed by 2028.

The third phase project of CNOOC and Shell includes the construction of a third ethylene cracker with an annual production capacity of 1.6 million tons, as a key component for plastic production, and the establishment of a series of downstream derivative units, including linear alpha olefins, etc. A new facility will also be built to produce high-performance specialty chemicals, such as polycarbonates and carbonate solvents, which are essential for daily life.

CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Limited was established in 2000, a joint venture with each 50% shareholding by Shell Nanhai B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Shell Group, and CNOOC Petrochemical Investment Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation. This joint venture, benefiting from a high-performance strategic partnership, has consistently achieved an average return on investment significantly higher than Shell's threshold rate of return.

The first phase of the CNOOC Shell project began commercial operations in 2006, and the second phase began commercial operations in 2018. Currently, the annual ethylene production capacity is 2.2 million tons, supplying more than 6 million tons of high-quality chemical products to the domestic market every year.