(Reuters) - Australian oil and gas major Woodside Energy ( WDS ) reported its smallest annual underlying profit in three years on Tuesday, hurt by lower realised prices, but maintained its 2025 output forecast on expectations of strong demand for liquefied natural gas.

Energy markets were disrupted by significant geopolitical events during the year, with slowing global growth and soft demand from top consumer China further exerting a downward pressure on commodity prices.

Woodside's average realised price for its products was $63.60 per barrel of oil equivalent, down 7% from last year.

That hurt the company's full-year underlying net profit after tax, which fell to $2.88 billion from last year's $3.32 billion. It was Woodside's smallest annual profit since 2021, though it beat the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $2.83 billion.

On a statutory basis, full-year net profit after tax more than doubled from last year to $3.57 billion.

The company declared a final dividend of 53 cents per share, slightly ahead of the consensus of 51 U.S. cents apiece, but below last year's 60 cents per share.

"The final dividend was also ahead of consensus, which the market should like today," analysts at Citi said in a note.

Shares of Australia's top oil and gas producer were trading marginally higher at A$23.48 as of 2321 GMT, compared with a 0.7% drop in the ASX200 benchmark index.

Woodside maintained its fiscal 2025 production forecast of between 186 and 196 million barrels of oil equivalent.

"With ongoing robust LNG demand forecast for the Asia Pacific region, and near-term structural shortfalls in gas supply forecast for both the east coast and Western Australian markets, Woodside will continue to be a reliable supplier of energy," Chief Executive Officer Meg O'Neill said.

The company also reaffirmed its capital expenditure forecast of between $4.5 billion and $5.0 billion, excluding its plans for the Louisiana LNG project which it acquired in October 2024.

Reuters earlier this month reported Woodside held talks with several potential buyers of stakes in its Louisiana LNG project, including Tokyo Gas, Japan's JERA and Saudi Aramco-backed MidOcean Energy.

"We are progressing towards readiness for a final investment decision from the first quarter of 2025 (on Louisiana LNG)," O'Neill said on Tuesday.