Oriel Securities has downplayed concerns about a rising pension deficit at BT Group after a Financial Times article suggested that the telecoms company could face higher payments.The FT cited analysts as saying that after a nine-month review of the £47bn pension plan - the largest private-sector defined benefit pension plan in the UK - BT's liabilities will have increased since the last review three years ago and the company will "need to inject equity to keep the deficit under control".Oriel Analyst John Karidis said that the FT report was "another, rather tired article" on the likely outcome of the actuarial valuation of BT's pension deficit as of June 30th 2014.He highlighted that the the results of the valuation will not actually be known until February or March 2015. "There are lots of reasons for the Trustee to consider a much lower 'prudence margin' this time around versus £6.4bn assumed in the valuation as at June 30th 2011 (when the actuarial deficit was agreed to be £3.9bn)."He pointed out that three years ago analysts had expected BT to generate free cash flow at a compound annual growth rate of 0%; "today this number is 8%", he said.Meanwhile, with no 'prudence margin' at all, Oriel said that BT's pension fund was actually in surplus of around £0.5bn as of March 31st 2014."In summary, any weakness in BT's share price because of the FinTimes article today is an opportunity to 'buy' BT," Karidis said. "The stock remains our top pick in the sector by far. Our price target is 530p per share, and we believe the risk to this is on the upside. We think BT is a growth stock, but still far from valued as such."The stock was down 0.2% at 391.5p by 10:50.BC