LONDON—French oil major Total SA is planning a new round of cost cuts and further reductions in capital spending to shore up profitability and protect its dividend in the face of lower crude prices.

Chief Financial Officer Patrick de la Chevardiè re said on Wednesday said that the group wants to bring costs down so that it can break even at $45 a barrel by 2019 compared with $70 and $80 today and a break-even price of $110 back in 2013. Crude is currently trading around $47 a barrel.

"We are preparing the group for a low oil price for a long time," Mr. de la Chevardiè re told reporters.

Total has raised its target for reductions in operating costs to $3 billion by 2017 from a previous target of $2 billion. Tighter cost management and falling raw-material and supplier costs would get Total to its new goal, Mr. de la Chevardiè re said.

Total's move is just the latest in series of spending cutbacks announced by the oil industry and other raw-material producers like mining companies which are grappling with tumbling commodity prices, hit hard by slack demand and over supply. Royal Dutch Shell PLC, one of Total's main European rivals, and Chevron Corp, announced job cuts of 6,500 and 1,500 respectively in July.

The belt-tightening has rippled through the rest of the industry, hitting companies supplying equipment and services to the oil and gas and other sectors.

Total, which reported a $5.66 billion net loss in 2014, is also planning to reduce capital expenditure to between $20 billion and $21 billion next year from a previously targeted figure of $23 billion to $24 billion. Thereafter, the group expects yearly capital spending to fall to $17 billion to $19 billion compared with a peak of $28 billion in 2013.

Mr. de la Chevardiè re said the company expects to maintain its dividend at the current level for next year, though part of the payout will be in the form of Total stock.

Total should generate sufficient cash to cover the cash component of the 2017 dividend with oil prices at around $60 a barrel, he said. Total raised its last full-year dividend by 2.5% to €2.44 ($2.68) a share but offered shareholders the option of taking a scrip dividend at a 10% discount to the market price.

Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 23, 2015 05:05 ET (09:05 GMT)

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