AN ENERGY treaty between Britain and Norway aimed at bringing new gas supplies to the UK is being undermined by a dispute between BP and Statoil, the Norwegian state oil company, over who collects the tariffs from a pipeline under the North Sea.

Statoil has given warning that gas imports from Ormen Lange, a vast gasfield in the Norwegian Sea earmarked for the UK market, would be delayed if the two governments failed to agree on who controls the infrastructure.

Britain is expected to become a net importer of gas in 2005 and the country lacks a pipeline link to the Norwegian gasfield. Talks over a treaty to make the link possible have been bogged down in rivalry between Statoil and BP, which is resisting Norwegian plans to lay a new pipe in UK waters.

According to Statoil, the argument could mean that essential legislation would not be tabled in the Norwegian parliament this year. Rune Bjornson, manager of Statoil UK, said: “To build this pipeline we’ll need the treaty. If there are delays that will have implications for the pipe.”

Brian Wilson, the UK Energy Minister, and his Norwegian counterpart, Einar Steensnaes, are due to meet in the Shetland Islands next month in an effort to resolve the dispute. A spokeswoman for Statoil said a framework agreement needed to be in place soon if it was to have a chance of being passed in the Norwegian parliament in October.

Statoil, the Norwegian state oil company, wants to build an undersea pipeline at a cost of $1 billion (£620 million), with a landfall at Easington on the East Riding coast. BP argues that the gas should be piped through existing infrastructure. It says the option was cheaper, would extend the life of the UK undersea gas grid and encourage further development in the UK sector.