For long-distance transport across oceans, oil (as well as petrol and related products) was generally carried in tankers. These were precursors to the supertankers of today. They had large tanks, which oil could be pumped into or out of. There were massive variances between tankers; some ships were small, old and slow, while more modern ships were faster and had a much larger capacity. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary operated several groups of commercially built tankers as the 'Dale' class, to carry fuel between ports and naval bases. They are generally representative of modern civilian tankers at the time. The first 'Dale' class ships were produced by the British Tanker Company to a standard design called the 'three twelves'. These ships had a cruising speed of 12 knots, burned 12 tons of diesel fuel a day to make that speed, and carried 12,000 tons of cargo. They had a long range, of ~20,000 nautical miles. The next two ships were produced by the Shell company. They had similar performance to the BTC ships. They carried slightly less fuel, but this was because two of their tanks were on a separate system to allow them to be dedicated to the carriage of petrol. The last seven ships of the class were built to the standard Ministry of War Transport 'Empire' tanker design. These were similar to the two preceeding groups in size and performace, though some ships used steam engines rather than diesel.

Oil was carried within the UK was carried in a variety of means. Most fuel and oil arrived in the main west coast ports of Glasgow, Liverpool and Bristol. From here, it could take a variety of routes to the final consumers. Oil distribution was the responsibility of the Petroleum Board, a conglomeration of the major oil companies. If the oil needed to end up near the coast, it would usually be carried in a coastal tanker. These were smaller, slower or older tankers, but otherwise worked the same way as their larger oceanic cousins. Some oil was carried in tank barges along Britain's canal network. Rail carried a significant proportion of fuel being carried to destinations inland. These used a mix of purpose-built tank wagons and ordinary box vans carrying fuel in tins or barrels. The former were used to carry fuel or oil from the ports to depots, supply dumps and civilian locations fitted with the necessary pumps. Box vans were used for carrying fuel to consumers which did not have pumps available. Road tankers were also used. These were smaller and less efficient than coastal tankers or rail, and so were only used over short distances, or where these methods were not practical. The UK did not enter the war with a pipeline network in place. However, the closure of the East Coast ports due to German bombing, the U-boat threat and threats from motor torpedo boats to shipping on routes along the east coast resulted in a mass of tanker traffic heading into the west coast ports. This threatened to overload the existing systems of distribution - there wasn't enough space on the railways or roads to take the fuel and oil away from the west coast ports. To ensure an efficient flow of fuel, a pipeline network, the Government Pipeline Storage System, was constructed. This started with a ~100 mile pipeline linking Bristol to London, built in June-November 1941. The system rapidly grew from this beginning, linking Bristol, Liverpool, London, rural fuel storage dumps, the major naval bases of the south coast and the air bases in the east of the country. In its ultimate form, it had a loop around much of England, with branches running off to the ports, storage sites and bases.