The Sullom Voe Terminal is an oil and gas terminal at

Sullom Voe Sullom Voe is an eight-mile-long voe or inlet off Yell Sound in the Shetland Islands. It divides the Northmavine peninsula from the remainder of Mainland (the two are connected by an isthmus at the head of the voe known as Mavis Grind). It i ...

in the

Shetland Islands Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the Uni ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It handles production from oilfields in the

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

and East Shetland Basin and stores oil before it is transported by tanker.

Construction

When Shetland was identified as a location to provide pipeline terminal and support facilities for offshore oil installations in the northern

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

Shetland Islands Council The Shetland Islands Council is the local authority for the Shetland Islands, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It was established in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and was largely unaffected by the Scottish local gov ...

, with power granted to it by the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

in the 1974 Zetland County Council Act, was able to contain all pipeline terminal facilities at the Sullom Voe site. Sullom Voe Terminal was built between 1975 and 1981. 6,000 people were employed during construction. They were housed in temporary accommodation, including the former car ferry . The first oil was received at 18:40 on 25 November 1978 via the Brent pipeline. At 12:30 on 3 December 1978, the first oil from the Ninian pipeline was received. The Scatsta Airport to the south re-opened in 1978 to support the building of the terminal. The terminal was officially opened on Saturday 9 May 1981 by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. A bomb was detonated at the power station on the terminal at 12.05pm on the day of the ceremony which was attributed to the IRA by Connor McCarthy. A boiler was damaged but no-one was injured. Despite the bombing the ceremony continued, concluding with the Queen dining aboard ''Rangatira'' that evening.

Operation

Sullom Voe Terminal has been owned since its construction by the Ninian and Brent partners. On 1 December 2017 the plant transitioned from long term operator BP to EnQuest. The terminal receives oil through the Brent (TAQA Bratani) 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 ...

(EnQuest) pipeline systems. Oil from the

Schiehallion oilfield Schiehallion (; , ) is a prominent cone-shaped mountain in the Breadalbane region of the Scottish Highlands, in the county of Perthshire. It rises to and is classed as a Munro. Schiehallion has a rich flora, interesting folklore and archaeolo ...

and Foinaven oilfield has been received by the purpose-built ''Loch Rannoch'' shuttle tanker since August 1998. In the late 1990s at the height of North Sea Oil, the terminal handled over a quarter of UK petroleum production and around 500 people worked there. Around half are EnQuest workers. A new pipeline was laid from the Clair oilfield in 2003–2004, and first oil from the Clair field was received in February 2005. 7 billion barrels (abt 960 million tons) of oil through the SVT achieved in December 2001. By 2008, the terminal had handled almost 8 billion barrels (abt 1.1 billion metric tons) of oil. Gas is imported through the West of Shetland pipeline. Some of the gas is used as fuel in the ENGIE operated Sullom Voe power station. The remainder is enriched with LPGs and exported to the Magnus platform for enhanced oil recovery. Due to its secluded position, the site has its own fire brigade. On 3 May 2018 it was reported that both the Brent and Ninian pipelines had to be shut down - halting production from the connecting fields in the East of Shetland basin. The pipelines were shut down due to a "minor fault" being found during a routine inspection. The minor fault was reportedly a small oily-water leak in a pipeline. Late on 6 May, EnQuest announced repair work had been completed and both the Brent and Ninian pipelines were reopened. On 25 November 2018 the Sullom Voe Terminal reached a milestone 40th anniversary since first oil.

Throughput

The throughput of the terminal over the period 1981 to 1990 (in 1000 barrels per day) was: The total throughput of the terminal up to the end of 1997 was 821,773,000 tonnes. The throughput over the period 1998 to 2021 (in 1,000 tonnes) was:

Sullom Voe power station

The gas turbine power station provides electricity for around 43% of the Shetland Islands (since the early 1990s) and the other half comes from the (fuel oil-powered) Lerwick Power Station situated at Gremista. Shetland requires about 50 MWe in the winter. From May 2004 to May 2014 it was operated by the Finnish company Fortum; previous to that it was operated by BP. Since May 2014 it has been operated by Cofely Limited, a GDF SUEZ company. The 100 MWe plant has four 25 MW General Electric Frame 5 gas turbines and is part of a Cogeneration, CHP system being built in the late 1970s. The actual power output from the plant is around 80 MWe as each turbine runs at about 18 MW. When the oil terminal was at the height of its production, 70 MWe would be used from five gas turbines by the plant, but less is needed now. It employs around twenty people.

Shetland Gas Plant

Sullom Voe is adjacent to the TotalEnergies operated gas facility Shetland Gas Plant, completed in 2014.

References

External links

Sullom Voe Terminal (BP website)

Sullom Voe Terminal (BP website, PDF file)

Shetlopedia

Sullom Voe Oil Terminal (Shetland Islands Council website)

Explosion at the terminal in May 1981

The Queen opens the terminal in 1981 with an audio clip of her speech

Esso Bernicia incident in December 1978
{{Coord, 60, 28, N, 1, 16.5, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title BP buildings and structures North Sea energy Transport in Shetland Port cities and towns of the North Sea Oil terminals Natural gas terminals Oil and gas industry in Shetland Natural gas infrastructure in the United Kingdom Petroleum infrastructure in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Shetland Buildings and structures completed in 1981 Explosions in Scotland Mainland, Shetland 1981 establishments in Scotland