The EU is secretly pushing Washington to lift limits on oil exports as part of a new trade agreement, according to a leaked document reported in The Washington Post Wednesday. 

The document reveals that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could create a "legally binding commitment" for the U.S. to export oil and natural gas to its European trading partners. According to a U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast, domestic oil production in 2015 is expected to reach its highest level since 1972.

The leak comes as a new round of EU-U.S. trade talks begin next week in Brussels.

''Exporting crude oil to the EU would mean windfall profits to Big Oil, more fracking, and more climate-disrupting pollution,'' wrote Ilana Solomon, director of the responsible trade program at the Sierra Club, in the Huffington Post. 

The EU also argued that political instability in Eastern Europe threatened its energy security.

"The current crisis in Ukraine confirms the delicate situation faced by the EU with regard to energy dependence," states the document.

However, environmentalists irked by the closed-door negotiations believe that energy policy needs to emphasize renewable sources rather than fossil fuels. 

"This leaked proposal further confirms our concerns that, while the public is being kept in the dark, the EU-US trade deal is being used to trade away regulations that protect us from dangerous climate change," said Natacha Cingotti, corporate campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe. "Europe needs to end its high import dependency and make an urgent transition to clean, renewable energy and greater energy efficiency."