BATON ROUGE - ExonnMobil has announced that the company plans to expand operations in the Baton Rouge area.

The company said Friday that it will fund the construction of a new polypropylene production unit along the Gulf Coast.

The planned expansion has been a point of contention for local officials after ExxonMobil withdrew its tax exemption application earlier this year.

Mayor-president Sharon Weston Broome's office released the following statement in response to the news Friday.

Today’s announcement that ExxonMobil has selected Baton Rouge as the site for its Polyolefins Plant is certainly welcome news for the entire Capital Region. The project will not only create 65 permanent jobs and 600 construction jobs, it will bring between $500 million and $1 billion worth of investment to our parish.

My administration has been working with ExxonMobil in support of this plant expansion from the outset. We are appreciative of the confidence they have placed in the future of Baton Rouge and its ability to attract and win capital investment. We look forward to a continued partnership with ExxonMobil and to breaking ground on this project later this year.

Construction is set to begin in 2019, and the company has the hopes to be done by 2021. The company says the new project will employ up to 600 people during construction and bring 65 long-term jobs once completed.

The unit will increase the production capacity of polypropylene along the Gulf Coast by up to 450, 000 tons per year. Polypropylene is a versatile material that can help improve the safety and performance of everyday consumer products and help improve vehicle fuel efficiency when used to manufacture lighter-weight auto parts

Turner Industries and Jacobs Engineering will design and construct the project using local workers. The expansion is a part of ExxonMobil’s plans to invest $20 billion to expand manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Gulf region.