[1] The first commercial pipeline to be constructed in the United Kingdom was built in 1959 by Shell-Mex and BP from the GPSS depot at Walton on Thames to Heathrow Airport.

The Esso pipeline from Fawley to London is due to be replaced, with the preferred routes G and J – North and South of Alton Pumping station being announced in June 2018.

UKOP is administered and operated by the British Pipeline Agency (BPA),[5] which is jointly owned by Shell and BP.

[6] As part of the UKOP network, in 1982 BPA began work a pipeline from Walton to Gatwick and this was substantively complete by the end of the year.

[8] UKOP transports 7.5 million tonnes of mixed products each year distributed to major oil terminals at Buncefield and Kingsbury with spurs to Northampton and Nottingham.