How firm defied KPA safety concerns to discharge cooking gas in Kilifi

On Wednesday last week, Lake Gas completed the receipt of the first cooking gas cargo at its partially completed facility in Kilifi County.

It was what should have marked a major achievement for the LPG plant and also the petroleum sector in the country, whose bid to grow cooking gas consumption and lower consumer prices has been held back by the lack of adequate storage facilities.

The discharge has, however, left a section of the industry reeling with discomfort. They note that it was a high-risk operation as the facility still lacks infrastructure to allow for the safe discharge of LPG from vessels. 

The operation that had started earlier in the week on Monday was the fourth attempt that the facility had tried to receive LPG from ships, with three prior instances having been unfruitful. Two of these instances were just a few days apart and ahead of Wednesday’s success. 

A week earlier, on May 25, 2025, Barumk, the vessel that had imported the cooking gas for Lake Gas, tried to discharge the product. The process was abandoned due to what sources say were strong currents that posed a major risk to the operation. One source noted that it aborted after hours of “trying to moor the vessel and numerous cuttings of the mooring ropes trying to hold the vessel”.

There would be another attempt on Sunday, June 1, which also failed due to harsh weather conditions. The ship would however start the successful discharge on Monday that was completed on Wednesday.

Industry players noted the need for extreme caution.

KPA had earlier undertaken a navigation simulation of how ships would approach the Lake Gas terminal. In its report, KPA noted that the terminal is ill-equipped to handle harsh weather conditions that may pose major risks to vessels when discharging.

It also noted that ships would find it difficult to discharge for half the year – between May and September during the Southeast Monsoon season –  when the weather conditions are harsh and pose a great risk to such operation.

KPA recommended having in place infrastructure that can shield ships that are discharging from harsh sea conditions. KPA provides vessels with pilotage services and is required by law to determine whether such an operation is safe and efficient at any terminal 

Following the simulation at the Lake Gas Terminal, KPA in a report noted the use of a Conventional Buoy Mooring (CBM) system offshore is exposed to significant weather and oceanographic risks along Kenya’s coastline. It made recommendations as to when the discharge system can be used as well as the size of ship tankers it can handle.

“(Lake Gas should) limit CBM usage to vessels that are less than 190 metres during calm Northeast monsoon season (November to March, preferably at 0600 hrs or slack water, when winds are weakest,” said KPA, noting that during this season, the seas are calmer and conditions are generally suited for safe operations. 

It noted that for the terminal to operate safely all year round, the terminal owners need to construct a “jetting with breakwater system to enable year-round operations and environmental protection”.

During the Southeast monsoon, which runs between May and September, KPA noted, brings strong winds, high waves and intense currents, “severely impacting navigation and mooring safely”.

Barumk, the vessel that delivered the LPG cargo, discharged at the Kilifi terminal at the onset of the Southeast monsoon, with the rough weather causing it to delay the discharge. At some point, sources said, the ocean currents were so strong that they threatened to break the mooring lines that had secured the ship on the steel buoys as it attempted to discharge.

KPA also noted that discharging at the terminal through the Conventional Buoy Mooring came with operational and safety risks such as “vessel drift and misalignment”. In the report, KPA also noted that the discharge posed a risk to sensitive marine ecosystems as the terminal is in “proximity to marine reserves and national parks (Mombasa, Watamu and Malindi) and raises environmental risk”.

 “Long-term sustainable mitigation strategies include the construction of a sustainable jetty and breakwater arrangement for the provision of safe pilotage and cargo operation services year-round. The breakwater system will be essential to prevent negative wave activity and ocean currents during approaches and cargo operations, providing a sheltered sea interface for Lake Gas Vipingo LPG Terminal.”

“The breakwater system will also assist in containing marine pollutants and residues from exposure to predominant northerly currents towards Mombasa, Watamu and Malindi marine reserve and national parks. This will go a long way in ensuring environmental protection of Kenyan waters.”

Lake Gas also needed to have the ship guided to its terminal by two tugboats, while one tugboat had to stay with the vessel throughout the entire duration. According to KPA rules, the use of tugs and mooring boats is compulsory for all vessels calling at the Port of Mombasa and Lamu. 

KPA says it has a fleet of six “high-powered tug boats”. “The distance between KPA and Lake Energies Terminal is approximately 24 nautical miles thus the tugboats to carry out the operations will on estimate each take three hours one way to the terminal in addition to one hour operation at the terminal summon up to approximately seven hours engagement for each tugboat in every single berthing operation,” said KPA managing director William Ruto in a May 23 letter to Lake Gas ahead of the first discharge that was scheduled to take place between May 25 and May 30.

“Resources to be deployed in each operation shall be two tugboats and two pilots for the estimated seven-hour duration of operations. Upon successful mooring, one tugboat will be maintained at the terminal on standby for the duration of the operation.”

Sources say out of the six tugboats owned by KPA, four are in Mombasa and two are in Lamu. “Two tugboats were used to take the vessel to position and one tugboat was with the vessel for more than five days, including the aborted attempts,” said a maritime expert familiar with the operation.

“Dedicating 25 per cent to 50 per cent of the country’s towage capacity over many days has an impact on port operations at Kilindini for departing and arriving vessels.”

Lake Gas has partially completed building storage infrastructure that can accommodate 10,000 metric tonnes of LPG. It plans to eventually increase this to 20,000 metric tonnes. The first futile attempt was in August last year. At the time, a ship carrying 19,000 metric tonnes of cooking gas arrived at the Kenyan coast. 

According to vessel tracking apps, the ship was expected to discharge the cargo at Kilifi at the Lake Gas facility, but on arrival, the vessel’s crew were stunned to find that there were no marine discharge facilities. These include the breakwater facility cited in the KPA report, but also, it was during the Southeast monsoon season when the sea is hostile.

At the time, the captain of Pasco Roni – the vessel that was delivering the cooking gas cargo – deemed the operation too dangerous, relaying to the cargo owners that they need to have certain minimums before discharge.

It was then that Lake Gas decided to try and discharge at facilities already in use at the Mombasa port. Owing to a mix of factors, including the long wait time that the ship had already experienced, which would further be lengthened by the discharge time at Shimanzi or Kipevu, the ship owners decided to sail away with the cargo. 

The ship had hovered on Kenyan waters for a month, and it was only in September that it would attempt to discharge at Shimanzi Oil Terminal and Kipevu Oil Terminal. According to a KPA schedule of oil and LPG tankers discharging at the different points at the Kenyan port, Pasco Roni – the name of the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel – was put on the waiters list for ships that were to discharge at Shimanzi between September 7 and 21. 

It would discharge only 1,500 metric tonnes at Shimanzi Oil Terminal, but it stopped after it turned out it would take too long to discharge the entire cargo, with costs for the cargo owners already piling up after spending a month waiting.

Cargo owners pay a penalty whenever they keep vessels waiting longer than the agreed waiting time. The ship would sail away with the cargo.  Industry experts familiar with last week’s operation term it as “a dangerous seaborne adventure,” adding that “after the dangerous trial, it will be foolhardy to try again when the weather conditions worsen between now and October”.

“The captain of the vessel has refused to come back on another voyage after battling tough ocean conditions for more than a week. Lake Gas, who face mounting operational costs, are reportedly in search of a new vessel,” said a source.

“With the monsoon season just beginning and the Barumk Gas vessel struggling and needing the full-time support of tugs amidst numerous severances of its ropes due to strong ocean elements, it is unlikely that another attempt, when the conditions will be far worse, will succeed.