Senate's McConnell supports lifting U.S. crude oil export ban

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he favors repealing the 40-year-old ban on U.S. crude oil exports and that Republican leadership would discuss the issue with the Obama administration.

"I support eliminating the oil export ban," McConnell told reporters on Wednesday after policy lunches in the U.S. Capitol. He said Iran will be able to export oil under the nuclear deal, so U.S. producers should be able to as well.

Oil interests want to do away with the ban, which they say will eventually choke the domestic drilling boom. Opponents say the ban helps workers at refineries and in ship building and the environment would be harmed by greater oil development if it was lifted.

The House of Representatives is expected to pass a bill in coming weeks to lift the ban.

The White House said on Tuesday it does not back the House bill Republicans are pursuing.

Supporters of a similar bill in the Senate are struggling to find wider legislation to which it can be attached. There is little time left in the Senate's legislative calendar to pass a standalone bill on oil exports.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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