Oil and gas producers, faced with prolonged weakness in crude prices, have been slashing dividend, curbing capital spending and scaling back drilling activity.

Crescent said on Thursday its cost reduction initiatives helped lower "transportation and hauling, chemical, labor and service costs, as well as logistics around maintenance."

Operating costs totaled C$331 million ($254 million) in the first half of 2016, about C$40 million lower than its estimate.

Crescent said it expected average operating expenses to be about C$11.40 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe) for 2016, about 85 Canadian cents lower than the original estimate.

Crescent maintained its full-year capital budget of C$950 million and production forecast of 165,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). It said it would revisit the numbers in the second half of the year.

The company has hedged 45 percent of its oil production for the rest of the year and 29 percent for the first half of 2017, taking advantage of recent rise in oil prices.

U.S. benchmark oil prices have shot up nearly 60 percent since they touched a 12-year low of $26 in February.

The Calgary-based company's net loss narrowed to C$226.1 million, or 45 Canadian cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30 from C$240.5 million, or 53 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. [nCCN2RllKW]

Production rose 10.3 percent to 167,218 boepd.

However, funds flow, a measure of the company's ability to fund new drilling, fell by nearly a quarter to C$404.4 million due to lower oil prices.

($1 = C$1.30)

(Reporting by Anet Josline Pinto in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)