Exolum Pipeline System

[1] Originally constructed by the government to supply fuel to airfields in World War II, it is now owned by Exolum.

In 1989 there were 40 petroleum storage depots in operation plus large numbers of other facilities such as pump-stations, junctions, and ingress and egress points, although many of these have now been closed.

[3] Authorisation was given to build a series of fuel storage depots with semi-buried tanks in them that would be protected against aerial attack.

One person working on bringing one previously mothballed storage depot back into operation related how it was buried beneath rubbish and long grass.

[15] A very large storage depot using salt caverns was constructed in Cheshire for storing both crude and refined oils.

[13] In the early 1950s some aviation fuel was pumped from Avonmouth to a depot on the River Thames to supply Heathrow Airport by road tanker from there.

From there aviation fuel was carried to Heathrow Airport, no longer by road tanker but via the first commercial pipeline which was constructed by Shell-Mex & BP in 1959.

In the 1980s it was decided by the government that large scale strategic storage of petroleum as a civil reserve was no longer required.

[20] The management of civil storage depots and the pipeline network initially came under the Board of Trade and then in 1942 under the Ministry of Power.

Private-sector usage was encouraged, but limited; the OPA's task was to provide "maximum development of private sector usage of the GPSS, provided this did not impinge upon its primary purpose of supplying the required fuel for defence purposes and did not require capital investment from public funds."

This applies a voltage to the pipeline such that the natural electrical action which takes place between pipe and soil leading to corrosion is reversed.

[26] After the war the locations of the pipelines were marked with identification posts with bright yellow roofs with a thick black line.

In May 2012 the Government of the United Kingdom announced plans to sell all or part of the GPSS[27] and legislation to enable it to do so was included in the Energy Act 2013.

[30] The sale did not include the six coastal Oil Fuel Depots owned by the MoD, which continued to be operated and maintained by the residual OPA.