diff --git a/src/snek/__init__.py b/src/snek/__init__.py
index e3a6773..5666c4d 100644
--- a/src/snek/__init__.py
+++ b/src/snek/__init__.py
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ def load_env(file_path: str = '.env') -> None:
                 # Skip lines without '='
                 if '=' not in line:
                     continue
-                # Split into key and value at the first '='
+                if line.startswith('export '):
+                    line = line[7:]
                 key, value = line.split('=', 1)
                 # Set environment variable
                 os.environ[key.strip()] = value.strip()