The small town of Fort Stockton may see economic growth in the next few years if a refinery gets approved by regulators.

PECOS COUNTY, TX (KWES) - The small town of Fort Stockton may see economic growth in the next few years.

"The city, we're really excited about it," said Fort Stockton Mayor, Chris Alexander.

MMEX Resources Corporation is an energy company based in Austin. They're looking to build a $450 million crude oil refinery in Pecos County. The facility is about 250 acres. If it's approved, it will work with existing railways to export diesel, liquefied petroleum gas, jet fuel and crude oil to western Mexico and South America. So far, the city and county have shown support for the project.

"It diversifies our community in Pecos County," said Pecos County Judge, Joe Shuster. "We believe it will be just great. I think it means our future is a little bit brighter. We will have an opportunity to take the crude oil out of the ground and make gasoline and other crude products and be able to sell them both on the railroad and even locally."

The company said the facilities and pipeline networks in the Basin will be able to handle products that are transported.

"The Permian Basin is the largest continuous oil discovery in America," said MMEX CEO, Jack Hanks. "The existing facilities and pipeline networks are largely unequipped to handle this growth and are limiting where products can be transported. By building a state-of-the-art refinery along the region's existing railway infrastructure, we hope to bring a local and export market for crude oil and refined products which will add substantial job and economic growth to West Texas."

The company said construction may take about 18 months but that process is said to open up 400 jobs. Once it begins operating, it's expected to provide 100 permanent jobs as well as generate substantial tax revenue for the county.