(Reuters) -Canadian oil and gas company Cenovus Energy ( CVE ) beat first-quarter profit estimates on Wednesday, buoyed by higher production and throughput volumes at its refineries.

Quarterly refining throughput in the quarter of 655,200 barrels per day (bpd) was a record while high operational availability at its downstream assets helped benefit from improved benchmark pricing in the U.S., the company said.

"During the first quarter of 2024, we saw strong operational performance from our oil sands and Canadian refining assets, and improved operational performance from our U.S. refining assets," Cenovus said.

Calgary, Alberta-based Cenovus said total upstream production rose nearly 3% to 800,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the January-March quarter from a year earlier.

Crude oil prices were range-bound during the quarter, but still remained at a level at which oil and gas companies can produce profitably.

Cenovus said WTI crude prices stood at $76.96 per barrel in the first three months of 2024, compared with $76.13 a year earlier.

The company reported a net income of 62 Canadian cents per share in the first quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of 54 Canadian cents, according to LSEG data.

Higher operating margin and a gain on asset sales also helped boost earnings, the company said.

($1 = 1.3770 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Kabir Dweit and Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)