(Adds details, forecast)
May 12 (Reuters) - Canadian oil and gas producer Crescent
Point Energy Corp CPG.TO CPG.N reported a bigger quarterly
loss due to weak oil prices.
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.
($1 = 1.2840 Canadian dollars)