The chief executive of Total said the French oil company would slash spending on exploration by 30 per cent this year due to the drop in the price of oil.

Patrick Pouyanne told the daily Le Monde that "these past two years, exploration spending was $2.8 billion" at the company.

He confirmed earlier plans by the company to reduce investment spending from last year's figure of $26 billion by $2 billion to $3 billion this year.

Pouyanne said Total would like to increase the cuts in operations by $400 million to bring the amount to $1.2 billion.

"A part of the savings will also come from the renegotiation of contracts with our suppliers as when oil falls, the prices of services and equipment falls," he said.-Reuters