Politico reported on Wednesday that oil industry representatives are approaching the Trump administration in hopes of preventing an export ban on oil. While White House officials have said they aren’t considering a ban, the energy industry has a lot to lose if the administration were to limit these exports. This comes after President Trump lamented the high profits oil majors are earning off of the Iran war. The U.S. already has lived its oil export ban era — it started during the last global energy shock.“Coming out of the Arab oil embargo, I think the view was all the U.S. resources need to stay in the U.S.,” said Dan Pickering, chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners.It was a very different time for U.S. oil – production was down and imports were up, said Ken Medlock, a professor and energy economist at Rice University.“The fact that an export ban was put in place, it really didn't have much of an impact at all,” Medlock said. Fast forward to the 2010s: Fracking unleashed enormous and rapid production growth in the U.S. The export ban was lifted in 2015.“It actually opened a much larger market up to domestic producers of oil,” Medlock said. “Who you're going to sell to, who you're going to buy from — all of that increases, and that improves the commercial case for continued expansion of the industry.”That helped America get to the oil dominance it enjoys today, as it faces another global oil crisis and higher gas prices. “There's political pressure for politicians to do whatever they can to help consumers, or even look like they're trying to help consumers, whether the tools are effective or not,” said Jason Bordoff, founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA.Bordoff said a new export ban — especially one that also bans fuel exports — would cause more harm than good. “You would worsen the economics of domestic refineries,” he said. “You'd worsen the economics of domestic oil production.” At first consumers would benefit, according to Ryan Kellogg, professor of climate and energy at the University of Chicago.“OK, prices are great, consumers celebrate and start driving around — but that's just not going to last very long,” Kellogg said.There would eventually be even less oil and fuel, so prices would come right back up.