Oil drilling executives met with White House and Capitol Hill officials this week to lobby for the United States’ ban on exporting crude oil to be lifted.

About a dozen executives who are part of the ad hoc group Producers for American Crude Oil Exports (PACE) came to Washington, D.C., this week and met with Brian Deese, a top adviser to President Obama, on Wednesday, Bloomberg Business reported, citing people familiar with the meetings.

{mosads}The oil drillers want the Obama administration and Congress to do what it can to ease the oil export ban, enacted in 1975 amid the Arab oil embargo.

George Baker, PACE’s executive director, confirmed to Bloomberg that members of the group did a fly-in this week, but did not disclose specific meetings.

“We’ve had a series of very productive meetings with senators from both parties and the administration and look forward to continuing those conversations in the months ahead,” he told Bloomberg.

The group said 11 of its 16 member companies sent executives, including Marathon Oil Corp. chief Lee Tillman, Chesapeake Energy Corp. chief Doug Lawler and Occidental Petroleum Corp. chief Steve Chazen.

They spoke with administration and legislative officials on the oil market, recent job cuts in the industry, oil production levels and other issues, PACE told Bloomberg.