The loch, the longest in Shetland, and partially sheltered by the island of Yell was used as a military base during the Second World War both by the Norwegian Air Force and by the RAF because of its location.
When crude oil was discovered in the North Sea in the 1970s, Sullom Voe became the location of an oil terminal (the largest in Europe), north east of the village of Brae, which was completed in 1982. Oil flows via pipeline from the Brent and Ninian oil fields to be loaded onto tankers at Sullom Voe. It may in future serve the North Atlantic oil field as well.