Statoil came under pressure on Friday after the Norwegian energy group said the development of a new gas project in the Barents sea was running eight months behind schedule and would be NKr7bn ($1.1bn) over budget.

Following a review, the oil and gas group and its partners were told that the Snøhvit licence in the Norwegian Arctic would now need NKr58.3bn of investment, NKr7bn more than initially planned. Gas production is expected to start on June 1 2007 and regular deliveries from December 1 the same year.