(Adds spokesman comments, share price)
By Bate Felix
PARIS, Jan 19 (Reuters) - French energy company Total expects a drop in 2015 results but does not plan tocut jobs as peer BP has done to weather currently low oilprices, its chief executive said in a radio interview onTuesday.
Patrick Pouyanne told Europe 1 that the group had thefinancial capacity to weather low oil prices.
Pouyanne said Total like its peers was being hit by the fallin crude prices and that the company expected its results todrop by 20 percent.
A Total spokesman said Pouyanne was referring to thecompany's full-year 2015 results, which will be presented onFeb. 11.
"We are resisting, but we are taking a hit," Pouyanne said.
"We have the financial capacity to withstand the pricevolatility in crude. We know that in commodities, there arecycles. Yes, this cycle is very violent, down 20 percent in lessthan a month, 60 percent in a year."
Asked if Total would cut jobs, Pouyanne said: "No. We areused to these cycles, and jobs cannot be the adjustable variablebecause I'll need these workers when the price goes back up, andit will go back up someday. I don't know when."
British energy company BP said last week that it planned toslash 5 percent of its global workforce, about 4,000 jobs.
Pouyanne said Total had decided instead to not replace allretiring staff and to hire fewer people.
Total shares were up 2.1 percent, boosting France'sblue-chip CAC 40 index and tracking the sector index, which was also up by more than 2 percent at 0843 GMT. (Editing by Andrew Callus and Jason Neely)