Chinese refiners have plans to increase processing rates by 10 percent next month as they see demand increasing, especially from abroad. Refiners are hoping the government will issue another fuel export quota batch for up to 15 million tons. China is also ramping up crude oil imports, which will only add pressure to freight rates and increase oil prices. Chinese oil demand is on the mend, with several refiners planning to ramp up processing rates considerably, according to a Reuters report citing unnamed sources in the know. Per these sources, at least three state-owned refiners and one private refining major have plans to increase processing rates by 10 percent next month from this, expecting higher demand for fuels, especially from abroad. Europe is an obvious source of this higher demand after an embargo on Russian crude oil kicks into effect in December and an embargo on fuel imports follows […]