(Adds Q1 details, estimates)
April 27 (Reuters) - Canada's Crescent Point Energy Corp CPG.TO on Thursday reported a surprise quarterly profit as higher realized prices for oil offset a marginal fall in production.
Crescent Point - whose core operations are in the Williston Basin and the Uinta Basin in the United States and in southwest Saskatchewan - said total average production fell to 173,329 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in the first quarter, from 178,241 boe/d a year earlier.
The company's operating expenses rose 16.5 percent to C$11.89 per boe, while its transportation costs per boe dropped by about 4.5 percent to C$2.12.
Crescent Point's average selling price was C$51.70 per barrel of oil equivalent, compared with C$31.29 a year ago.
The Calgary-based company reported a net profit of C$119.4 million ($88 million), or 22 Canadian cents per share, compared with a loss of C$87.5 million, or 17 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. on average had expected a loss of 8 Canadian cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Funds flow, a measure of Crescent's ability to fund new drilling, rose to C$427.1 million from C$378 million.
($1 =C$1.36)