Statoil ASA, Norway’s biggest oil company, deepened investment cuts and offered to pay dividends in stock as a collapse in crude prices eroded earnings. The company said it plans to reduce capital expenditure to $13 billion this year from a revised $14.7 billion in 2015, after reporting a 63 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit on Thursday. Statoil boosted a target for 2016 cost savings to $2.5 billion from $1.7 billion. Statoil proposed keeping its payout at 22 cents a share for the quarter, while introducing a two-year scrip dividend program that it said was supported by the Norwegian government, which owns 67 percent of the company. Statoil didn’t commit to a precise dividend level for the coming quarters as it did a year ago. “We are deeply committed to our dividend policy, which is about maintaining the dividend in a tough environment, through the cycle, reflecting our long-term earnings,” […]