Crescent Point, which said it continued to lower its overall cost structure, has slashed its dividend, curbed capital spending and scaled back drilling activity to operate within its cash flow amid a steep and prolonged plunge in crude prices since June 2014.

The company forecast about C$300 million of excess free cash flow for 2016, if oil prices average $45 per barrel.

Funds flow, a measure of Crescent's ability to fund new drilling, fell to C$378 million in the quarter from C$433.6 million, a year earlier.

The company posted a net loss of C$87.5 million ($68.15 million), or 17 Canadian cents per share, for the first quarter ended March 31, compared with a loss of C$46.0 million, or 10 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

Total production rose about 16 percent to 178,241 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Up to Wednesday's close, the company's Toronto-listed stock had lost about a third of its value in the past 12 months.

(Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri and Manish Parashar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)