Sullom Voe and the oil years

When North Sea oil came ashore at Sullom Voe in 1978 it changed Shetland more profoundly than anything since the Norse. At its 1981 opening by HM the Queen it was the largest oil terminal in Europe. The Shetland Charitable Trust, funded by a hard-bargained disturbance levy on every barrel, gave the islands schools, leisure centres, sheltered housing, ferries and music tuition that few rural areas in Britain enjoy. The terminal is quieter now — output from the Brent and Ninian fields has dropped — but the trust fund built on those years still pays for much of island life.