ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) reported a third-quarter loss Oct. 29, and the largest U.S. independent oil company lowered its 2015 spending target in response to the lingering slump in crude prices.

The Houston-based company said it would divest assets and lower its cost structure in response to the more than 50 percent slide in crude oil prices from last year's high of more than $100 per barrel.

Still, the company, which increased its quarterly dividend in July, remains committed to a "compelling" payout, Chief Executive Officer Ryan Lance said in a statement.

ConocoPhillips said it would further cut its 2015 capital budget, to $10.2 billion from $11.0 billion.

On a conference call with analysts, executives said ConocoPhillips planned to exit all deepwater exploration by 2017 as other projects win out in the budgeting process. Currently, it has deepwater operations in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Senegal, Angola and Canada.

"Within our portfolio, (deepwater exploration) doesn't look like an opportunity that competes for capital," CFO Jeff Sheets said in an interview.

ConocoPhillips would also consider selling the deepwater prospects it is currently appraising, Sheets said.

The company posted a loss of $1.1 billion, or 87 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $2.7 billion, or $2.17 per share.

Excluding one-time items from restructuring and the cancellation of a Gulf of Mexico drillship contract, the loss was 38 cents per share. On that basis, analysts on average were expecting a loss of 37 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Output from continuing operations, excluding Libya, was 1.554 million barrels oil equivalent per day, compared with 1.473 mboed a year ago.

Shares of ConocoPhillips were up 7 cents at $53.41 in afternoon New York Stock Exchange trading. So far this year, the stock is down nearly 23 percent.

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