Norway's Statoil plans to reduce capital expenditure by nearly 12% this year and step up its cost-cutting program in response to collapsing oil prices which led to a wider net loss in the fourth quarter, against market expectations.

The company said on Thursday that the loss for the three months ended Dec 31 was 9.2 billion Norwegian kroner ($1.08 billion), up from a net loss of 8.9 billion kroner a year earlier on lower revenue and higher provisions and impairment charges. Analysts had expected a net profit of around 3.83 billion kroner.

Revenues fell 7.3% to 109.2 billion kroner, against expectations of 117.82 billion kroner.

The company recorded 10.1 billion kroner in impairments, mainly in its international operations, and booked provisions of 4.8 billion.

The Norwegian group's results echo similarly poor fourth-quarter showings from its biggest U.S. and European rivals, as the decline in the price of crude to around $30 a barrel early this year from more than $100 in the middle of 2014 has taken a heavy toll on oil-industry profitability and future spending plans.

Statoil said it would lower its capital expenditure to $13 billion this year from $14.7 billion last year, but said it would maintain its dividend.

The company said it would boost its cost-cutting program to $2.5 billion this year from $1.7 billion. Cost cuts had reduced the average break-even prices—the oil price it takes for a project to be profitable—in planned projects to $41 a barrel from $70 a barrel in 2013, it said.

Statoil's adjusted earnings, which strips out one-off effects and is seen as a key performance measure, was the weakest since at least 2008, falling nearly by half to 15.2 billion kroner from 26.9 billion kroner in the same quarter the previous year.

Write to Kjetil Malkenes Hovland at kjetilmalkenes.hovland@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 04, 2016 02:15 ET (07:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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