Undated file photo shows the Huizhou Dayawan Petrochemical Industrial Park in south China's Guangdong Province. [Huizhou Information Office/Handout via Xinhua]

U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil plans to invest 10 billion yuan (about 1.4 billion U.S. dollars) in its Huizhou ethylene project in south China's Guangdong Province this year.

Addressing the Guangdong Provincial High-quality Development Conference in Shenzhen on Sunday, Jean-Marc Taton, chairman of ExxonMobil China, said ExxonMobil has already invested over 30 billion yuan in the first phase of its Huizhou ethylene project.

Taton said that the first phase is expected to be operational by the end of this year after a test run.

Dubbed as one of China's major foreign investment projects, the ExxonMobil Huizhou ethylene project is located in the Huizhou Daya Bay Petrochemical Industrial Park.

The project, with a total investment of about 10 billion U.S. dollars, will be built in two phases. The first phase mainly consists of a steam cracker and production facilities for high-performance polyethylene and polypropylene.