June 17 (Bloomberg) -- The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, and 15 construction-trades labor unions agreed to coordinate lobbying in Washington to promote job creation and oppose tax proposals that might discourage growth.

The newly formed Oil and Natural Gas Industry Labor- Management Committee includes Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. oil company, and unions such as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that help build oilfields, refineries and pipelines, the institute and unions said today in a joint statement.

The committee will coordinate labor and oil-industry advocacy for the first time, API President Jack Gerard said on a conference call with reporters. Leaders of the unions agree that oil companies need better access to reserves on federal lands and that some pending tax proposals would discourage investment, he said.

“Americans are desperate for new approaches to help bring back the kind of jobs that will not only put food on the table but will pay their mortgages,” Mark Ayres, president of the building and construction trades department of the AFL-CIO, said on the call. “They are looking, as Americans always have, to the private sector to bring back hope and economic stability.”

More intensive exploitation of U.S. oil and gas reserves might generate 160,000 new jobs and $1.7 trillion in government revenue by 2030, Gerard said. The labor-industry group also will push for government job-training incentives, Ayres said.

The oil and gas industry employs 2 million workers directly and another 4 million through suppliers, Larry Nichols, chief executive officer of Devon Energy Corp. and API chairman, said on the call.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Polson in New York at jpolson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 17, 2009 12:33 EDT