Sullom Voe is an

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...

of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

between the parishes of

Delting Delting is a civil parish and List of community council areas in Scotland#Shetland, community council area on Mainland, Shetland, Mainland, Shetland, Scotland. It includes the Sullom Voe oil terminal and its main settlements are Brae, Mossbank, Sh ...

and

Northmavine Northmavine or Northmaven ( non, Norðan Mæfeið, meaning ‘the land north of the Mavis Grind’) is a peninsula in northwest Mainland Shetland in Scotland. The peninsula has historically formed the civil parish Northmavine. The modern Northmav ...

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is a location of the Sullom Voe oil terminal and

Shetland Gas Plant The Shetland Gas Plant is a natural-gas processing plant in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. History The site is the collection point for the Laggan-Tormore project, involving two large gas fields. The Laggan gas field was discovered in 1986. ...

. The word Voe is from the Old Norse ' and denotes a small bay or narrow creek. The head of the voe makes up the eastern side of

Mavis Grind Mavis Grind ( non, Mæfeiðs grind or ', meaning "gate of the narrow isthmus") is a narrow isthmus joining the Northmavine peninsula to the rest of the island of Shetland Mainland in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is said to be the only plac ...

. The Voe, the longest in Shetland, and partially sheltered by the island of

Yell A yell is a loud vocalization; see screaming. Yell may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Yell, Shetland, one of the North Isles of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland * Yell Sound, Shetland, Scotland United States * Yell, Tennessee, an unin ...

was used as a military

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

both by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and the

Royal Norwegian Air Force The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) ( no, Luftforsvaret, , The Air Defence) is the air force of Norway. It was established as a separate arm of the Norwegian Armed Forces on 10 November 1944. The RNoAF's peacetime establishment is approximatel ...

as a location for

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

s. With the coming of the oil terminal, the remains of the airfield were upgraded and modernised to create

Scatsta Airport Scatsta Airport , was a commercial airport on the island of Mainland, Shetland in Scotland located north of Lerwick and southwest of Sullom Voe Terminal. It is owned by Shetland Island's Council and was operated by Serco on behalf of the ...

which was primarily used to service the terminal. The first

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

was discovered in the North Sea in 1969, and soon thereafter construction began on the oil terminal at Sullom Voe, north east of the village of

Brae :''"Brae" is also the Lowland Scots language word for the slope or brow of a hill.'' Brae (Old Norse: ''Breiðeið'', meaning "the wide isthmus") is a village on the island of Mainland in Shetland, Scotland, United Kingdom. Description Brae wa ...

, which became operational in 1975 and was completed in 1982, becoming the largest in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Oil flows via pipeline from the Brent and

Ninian Ninian is a Christian saint, first mentioned in the 8th century as being an early missionary among the Pictish peoples of what is now Scotland. For this reason he is known as the Apostle to the Southern Picts, and there are numerous dedicatio ...

oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

s to be loaded onto

tankers Tanker may refer to: Transportation * Tanker, a tank crewman (US) * Tanker (ship), a ship designed to carry bulk liquids ** Chemical tanker, a type of tanker designed to transport chemicals in bulk ** Oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tank ...

at Sullom Voe. It has recently begun to serve

North Atlantic oil fields This list of oil and gas fields of the North Sea contains links to oil and natural gas reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In terms of the oil industry, "North Sea oil" often refers to a larger geographical set, including areas such as the Norwegi ...

as well. When

was identified as a location to provide pipeline terminal and support facilities for off-shore oil installations in the northern

, corporations involved had expected to each build their own terminal facilities. However, wishing to minimise the negative impacts of the industry, the

Shetland Islands Council The Shetland Islands Council ( sco, Shetland Islands Cooncil; gd, Comhairle Shealtainn) is the local authority for Shetland, Scotland. It was established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and is the successor to the former Lerwick Tow ...

(SIC), with power granted to it by the UK Parliament in the Zetland County Council Act 1974,Zetland County Council Act 1974.
/ref> were able to contain all pipeline terminal facilities at the Sullom Voe site, now operated by

EnQuest EnQuest plc is an independent United Kingdom-based petroleum exploration and production company which operates mainly in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf. EnQuest shares are included on the main list of the London Stock Exchange and the firm ...

on behalf of a consortium of companies operating in the North Sea and North

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

Footnotes

{{Shetland Fjards of Scotland Ports and harbours of Scotland Special Areas of Conservation in Scotland North Sea Voes of Shetland Northmavine