News
Halliburton Expansion To Create Hundreds Of Jobs In Muskingum County
By: Michael Locklear
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An international company's expansion is bringing about 300 jobs to Muskingum County.
Halliburton broke ground Tuesday afternoon on a new facility in Zanesville.
"We kind of think this is an opportunity to jump-start our economy locally," said Mike Jacoby, the executive director of the Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority. "Halliburton will invest probably over $100 million in buildings and equipment at the Zanesville facility."
The port authority sold 178 acres of land to the Houston-based company, a provider of products and services to the oil and gas industry.
The complex will be an an operations hub for Halliburton's customers that drill in the Utica Shale.
Jacoby says the company has already hired close to a hundred Ohioans who are now working in Pennsylvania, but most will come back to the Buckeye state as new buildings are completed. Construction is expected to wrap up in the next two or three years.
The company does have ties to this area. A former chairman and CEO of Halliburton, Alan Baker, was born in Muskingum County and graduated from Marietta College.
"There's been a strong connection between Halliburton and Muskingum County for quite some time and I think we just developed an even stronger relationship today," said Jacoby.
Governor John Kasich spoke at the ground-breaking ceremony.
Halliburton's website says the company employs nearly 70,000 people in about 80 countries.