London — Booming refinery profits are helping African oil producers sell cargoes quickly, aided by a shortage in certain types of crude amid Opec production cuts and Venezuelan troubles. A fight for sour crude has helped keep demand high from southern African oil state Angola, and even long-suffering Nigerian grades are finding keen buyers in the US and Asia as refineries run full steam on strong margins. "Everything has been so supportive and bullish these past three or four weeks," one trader said, adding that between draws from storage and strong margins, "refiners are buying up ahead of normal timeline to make sure they don’t miss out". US refinery margins rallied to a two-year high on Tuesday, while analysts FGE said Europe’s refinery runs were on track for a six-year high for August before Europe’s largest oil refinery went into an unplanned shutdown over the weekend. FGE said that amid strong profits, other refineries would pick up much of the slack. A cut in Venezuela’s supp...
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