Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., says he'll try to work language into a highway funding bill that would lift a ban on crude oil exports. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

BISMARCK, N.D., Nov. 13 (UPI) -- A Republican senator from North Dakota said he was working to insert language in a highway-funding bill that would lift a ban on U.S. crude oil exports.

U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told oil industry leaders gathered in Williston, a city at the heart of the state's shale oil boom, that lifting a 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports would help support the state's industry workers.


"That's why I am working to include legislation lifting the ban in the new highway bill that Congress is on track to pass," he said in a statement.

Washington enacted a ban on domestic crude oil exports after Arab members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in the 1970s closed the spigot temporarily in response to U.S. support for Israel. Supporters of lifting the ban said it would stimulate the domestic economy and increase U.S. leverage overseas.

Senate leaders this week appointed negotiators to review the funding measure. Congress aims to reach a final decision before Nov. 20, when current road-funding legislation expires.

Hoeven has long been an advocate for ending the ban. He joined Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., in moving to insert language in the National Defense Authorization to address the oil export ban earlier this year.

A report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service finds some overseas refineries aren't designed to handle the lighter oils from the United States. Exports of an ultra-light form of oil called condensate, which doesn't meet the federal classification for crude oil if processed in a certain way, has been cleared for U.S. exports. Condensate is found in many U.S. shale oil basins.

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The White House in the past has said it would veto any legislation meant to overturn the ban on crude oil exports.