Statoil ASA deepened cost cuts and halted dividend growth as Norway’s biggest energy company struggles to withstand a plunge in oil prices. The company will raise spending cuts by 30 percent to $1.7 billion from 2016 and lower capital expenditure to $18 billion this year from earlier targeting $20 billion, the Stavanger-based company said. Statoil reported fourth-quarter net operating income of 9 billion kroner ($1.2 billion), down from 43.9 billion kroner a year earlier. That missed an estimate of 26.3 billion kroner in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Statoil followed competitors including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. in cutting billions of dollars in investments. They are seeking to protect profits after oil prices slumped by more than 50 percent in […]