Venezuela's loss is Africa's gain in Latam crude game
Shrinking crude exports from Venezuela to its neighbors has allowed African oil producers to gain a foothold among Latin American buyers, according to traders and data, and sales to one of the world's few regions with strong demand will keep growing.
Only months ago, African producers were scrambling to find new clients in the Western Hemisphere, having largely been pushed out of the U.S. market by the onshore shale oil revolution.
African exports are also growing as Mexico and Brazil lack spare capacity to increase sales to neighbors. U.S. companies, which dominate refined products trade in the Americas, cannot export crude because of a decades-old ban imposed by Washington.
Africa sent at least 8 million barrels to South America in the first two months of this year, double the amount in the year-ago period, according to Reuters Dirty Tanker Fixtures data.
http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-loss-africas-gain-latam-crude-game-135504617--finance.html
