On the face of it, a relentless battle between the European Union and Norway in a remote part of the Arctic is about snow crabs. What is really at stake is oil, some experts say, and a coming race for the commodity of which there is a lot in the polar region. Norway, which is not a member of the EU, has slammed Brussels for authorising European vessels from mainly Baltic nations to fish for crabs in the Svalbard area, saying it violates its national sovereignty.