* Tanker cited by U.S. govt official as carrying Iranian oil
* Name change follows ship shutting off tracking transponder
By Roslan Khasawneh and A. Ananthalakshmi
SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 (Reuters) - While in theIndian Ocean heading toward the Strait of Malacca, the verylarge crude carrier (VLCC) Pacific Bravo went dark on June 5,shutting off the transponder that signals its position anddirection to other ships, ship-tracking data showed.
A U.S. government official had warned ports in Asia not toallow the ship to dock, saying it was carrying Iranian crude inviolation of U.S. economic sanctions. A VLCC typicallytransports about 2 million barrels of oil, worth about $120million at current prices.
On July 18, the transponder of the VLCC Latin Venture wasactivated offshore Port Dickson, Malaysia, in the Strait ofMalacca, about 1,500 km (940 miles) from where the Pacific Bravohad last been signalling its position.
But both the Latin Venture and the Pacific Bravo transmittedthe same unique identification number, IMO9206035, issued by theInternational Maritime Organization (IMO), according to datafrom information provider Refinitiv and VesselsValue, a companythat tracks ships and vessel transactions. Thomson Reuters has aminority stake in Refinitiv.
Since IMO numbers remain with a ship for life, thisindicated the Latin Venture and the Pacific Bravo were the samevessel and suggested the owner was trying to evade Iranian oilsanctions.
"Without speculating on any particular shipowners' actions,generally speaking for a ship to change its name abruptly afterreceiving accusations from the U.S., it can only be that theowner is hopeful that the market will be deceived by somethingas rudimentary as a name change," said Matt Stanley, an oilbroker at StarFuels in Dubai.
The vessel is owned by Kunlun Holdings, which, according todata from Equasis.org, a shipping transparency website set up bythe European Commission and the French Maritime Administration,is based in Shanghai. The company also has an office inSingapore.
Calls to the company's offices were unanswered.
While operating as the Pacific Bravo, the ship'stransmission data showed that its cargo tanks were full beforeit turned off the transponder. When it reappeared 42 days lateras the Latin Venture, it was empty, according to Refinitiv andVesselsValue data.
Reuters was not able to ascertain where or if the oilonboard the Latin Venture was offloaded.
According to a statement from the Marine DepartmentMalaysia, the Latin Venture entered Port Dickson on June 29 fora crew change and departed on July 18. The statement said thatno cargo was discharged.
The United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in Novemberafter pulling out of a 2015 accord involving Tehran and sixworld powers that limited Iran's nuclear programme. Aiming tocut Iran's oil sales to zero, Washington in May ended sanctionwaivers given to some importers of Iranian oil.
Iranian officials were not immediately available forcomment. A fax to China's Foreign Ministry asking for commentwas not immediately answered.
Responding to a Reuters request for comment on its reactionto the name change, a U.S. State Department spokesman said onAug. 1: "We do not preview our sanctions activities, but we willcontinue to look for ways to impose costs on Iran in an effortto convince the Iranian regime that its campaign ofdestabilising activities will entail significant costs."
After departing Port Dickson, the tanker sailed pastSingapore to the southeastern coast of Malaysia and on July 25it transmitted that its cargo tanks were nearly full. As of Aug.14, the ship remains there, ship-tracking data shows.
The origin of the oil cargo could not be determined.
(Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh in SINGAPORE and A.Ananthalakshmi KUALA LUMPUR; additional reporting by Muyu Xu inBEIJING, SHANGHAI bureau and Jonathan Saul in LONDON; editing byChristian Schmollinger)