An Iranian tanker has discharged 270,000 mt of fuel oil into a floating storage unit at Malaysia's Tanjung Pelepas port this week, barely two weeks after another Iranian ship unloaded crude into an FSU near Labuan Island, off East Malaysia's Sabah state, industry sources said Wednesday.

With international sanctions imposed on Tehran limiting its usual export outlets, the Islamic Republic is seeking to park its oil elsewhere so as to evade the shipping insurance ban imposed on international commercial vessels calling at Iranian ports to load oil.

By moving its oil to storages outside Iran, the country is also trying to free up its tankers so that these vessels could be used for delivering cargoes to its customers as well as store the crude it produces.

A shipping source with knowledge of the matter said, the Pioneer, a 2007-built VLCC owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company and previously known as Hadi, had discharged Monday nearly 270,000 mt of fuel oil into the Hercules, a VLCC converted into a floating storage unit, off Malaysia's southern state of Johor.

After unloading the cargo of 380 CST and 280 CST grades of fuel oil, the Pioneer left for Iran, said another source with knowledge of the matter.

A check on the Platts ship-tracking tool cTrack showed the Pioneer being placed adjacent to the Hercules, a 1988-built VLCC. Authorities at the Port of Tanjung Pelepas told Platts that Hercules and Pioneer had been in its waters, adding that the Iranian ship had left the area on Monday.

The Hercules is owned by Malaysian-listed Petrol One Resources Berhard, and managed by Sigma Maritime Synergy Sdn Bhd, shipping sources said. An associate company, Arus Dermaga, is the licence holder for performing ship-to-ship transfer on the VLCC, one source said.

An official at Petrol One declined to comment when asked about the Hercules receiving a fuel oil cargo from the Iranian tanker. A senior official at Petrol One could not be reached for comments.

Petrol One has triggered Practice Note 17 under the main market listing requirements of Bursa Malaysia or Malaysian Stock Exchange, on August 30, to alert shareholders of its financial status. In its announcement, Petrol One said it is in the middle of formulating a regularization plan to address its PN17 status.

Stock exchange rules state that if the company fails to comply with the obligations to regularize its condition, all its listed securities will be suspended from trading on the next market day after five market days from the date of notification of suspension and de-listing procedures shall be taken against the firm, subject to its right to appeal against the de-listing.

Petrol One's shares were trading at MR0.18 (6 cents)/share Wednesday morning, down 8% from Tuesday's close.

NITC tankers have increasingly been deployed to deliver crude and fuel oil as Tehran's customers in Asia struggle to find shipowners willing to send vessels to Iran because crucial European Union-linked insurance is no longer available following the July 1 implementation of new EU sanctions on Iran over its nuclear plan.

Iran denies Western allegations that it is seeking to develop atomic weapons and says its nuclear program is solely for power generation.

Currently, NITC tankers are delivering crude to Chinese and Indian customers. The Iranian tankers are also slated to deliver crude to South Korean refiners SK Energy and Hyundai Oilbank.

Early this month, Iranian tanker the Motion, a 1996-built VLCC, discharged almost 2 million barrels of crude into an FSU near Labuan Island, shipping and trading sources had said.

Source: Platts