The Norwegian energy group, Statoil, has warned that delays commissioning the controversial Corrib gas pipeline could make it difficult for the company to hit its production targets in 2007.

Yesterday the company reported a 48 per cent jump in third-quarter operating profits, driven by high oil prices, and stood by its production targets.

Oil and gas output at Norway's biggest petroleum producer rose 17 per cent from a year ago, but liftings of oil - the amount sold from production and from inventories - fell and held back operating results.

Statoil chief executive Helge Lund said delays on the Snoehvit gas field in the Arctic and the Corrib gas field off the Mayo coast would make the company's 2007 goals more challenging than before.

The delays reduced "the comfort level", Lund said in a presentation to analysts and added that the "comfort level" of the 2005 target was also "somewhat less" than before.

Shell are the main operators of the pipeline taking gas from the Corrib gas field to a refinery in Rossport, nine kilometres from the shore. But Statoil is a 36.5 per cent shareholder in the project, and protesters have been placing greater focus on the Norwegian company because it is state-owned.

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose to a record 23.87 billion krone ($3.7 billion) in the July-September quarter from 16.09 billion in the same period last year.

Chief financial officer Eldar Saetre called the lower oil liftings a "coincidence" and said that Statoil accumulated 2 million barrels of oil equivalent of unsold production in the quarter. "This will even out afterwards," he said.

"All in all a solid set of numbers," Citigroup analyst Tony Eccles said. "The 'miss' at the operating level is largely a quirk of industry accounting and belies stronger-than-expected underlying operational performance."

The Nordic region's biggest industrial group by revenue stuck to its 2005 oil and gas output target of 1.175 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) and a 2007 target of 1.4 million boed, which analysts said was a relief. - (Additional reporting by Reuters)