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May 4 (Reuters) - Canadian Natural Resources Ltd CNQ.TO , the country's largest independent petroleum producer, reported a first-quarter profit, compared with a loss a year earlier, helped by an uptick in crude prices.
Oil prices began to rise late last year, after a two-year slump, and have now stabilized at above $50 per barrel as an OPEC-led production cut and rebounding demand slowly erode a global glut.
That helped Calgary-based Canadian Natural post a net profit of C$245 million ($179 million), or 22 Canadian cents per share, for the first quarter ended March 31.
Canadian Natural, which operates in Western Canada, the North Sea and offshore West Africa, had lost C$105 million, or 10 Canadian cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
The company said production rose nearly 4 percent to 876,907 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the latest quarter.
Canadian Natural said cash flow, a key indicator of a company's ability to pay for new projects and drilling, surged nearly 150 percent to C$1.64 billion, or C$1.46 per share.
The free cash flow was largely used to reduce its debt levels by C$500 million, the company said on Thursday.
Canadian Natural is set to become the majority-owner of the Athabasca Oil Sands project in northern Alberta after last month's deal to buy billions of dollars of oil sands assets from Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L and Marathon Oil Corp (NYSE:MRO) MRO.N .
The deal makes it one of the top three Canadian oil sands operators - along with Suncor Energy SU.TO and Cenovus Energy CVE.TO - that have snapped up assets as foreign oil majors exit the region. ($1 = C$1.37)