The new venture, dubbed “Producers for American Crude Oil Exports,” is the first formal lobbying effort solely designed to take down the 39-year-old ban on selling most U.S. oil overseas. With more than a dozen independent oil companies on board, the venture is a sign that the industry is revving up for a big, coordinated push to dismantle those trade restrictions next year, when a new Congress is sworn in and the Obama administration may have more political freedom to tackle the issue.