The world’s biggest energy companies have doubled down on their promise to protect dividends, despite a precipitous drop in profits this year, driven by a steep decline in oil prices. “The dividends and payouts to shareholders have no reason to be as volatile as the oil price,” said Patrick Pouyanné, chief executive of France’s Total SA, TOT -0.17 % the world’s fourth-largest oil company by production, at a conference in Abu Dhabi this week. He added that it would be a “terrible mistake” to remove dividends and a sign that “we aren’t good at our business.” Oil prices are currently trading slightly above $40 a barrel—their lowest levels since August—and more investment banks, energy companies and analysts don’t see the price rising above $60 a barrel until 2017. The International Energy Agency said Tuesday oil prices would slowly rise to $80 a barrel by 2020, but also outlined a […]