By Helen Clark

Jan 28 (Reuters) - Australia's Woodside Energy on Wednesday flagged a lower production outlook for 2026, tempering stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue that was underpinned by resilient output despite weaker oil and gas prices.

The oil and gas major's shares rose as much as 2.53% to $24.93 at 0424 GMT, compared with a 0.22% fall for the broader benchmark.

The country's top gas producer beat market expectations for December-quarter revenue as stronger production helped cushion the impact of the lowest oil prices since 2020.

Output reached a record 198.8 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), exceeding guidance on the back of strong operating performance across key assets, including Sangomar, Shenzi and Pluto LNG.

Analysts Nik Burns at Jarden and Saul Kavonic at MST Marquee both called the results "strong".

Burns said the market had expected lower production in 2026, but the new guidance was still 3% below a consensus midpoint of 172 million to 186 million boe.

The softer outlook reflected planned maintenance and a major turnaround at the Pluto LNG project in the second quarter, as well as the timing of new volumes from the Scarborough project, the company said on Wednesday.

Burns noted that a year ago, the company issued guidance that was below consensus and then upgraded it twice before producing more oil and gas than the top end of its range.

“We think the market will assume the same thing may be happening again this time around and largely take it in its stride,” he said in an email.

Liz Westcott, Woodside's interim CEO, said the quarterly performance was driven by sustained plateau production at its Sangomar oil field offshore Senegal and the Pluto LNG project operating at 100% through the second half of 2025.

“In recent days, we marked a special milestone for the Scarborough Energy Project with the safe arrival of the floating production unit at the field and commencement of hook-up activities," she said. "The project was 94% complete at the end of the year and remains on budget and on target for first LNG cargo in Q4 2026."

The market had previously expected a first cargo in the third quarter.

Meg O’Neill left Woodside in mid-December to lead BP and the company has not named a permanent CEO, though Westcott is viewed by analysts as one of three strong internal candidates.

Kavonic echoed Burns' comments about production guidance potentially being beaten this year, and said the company was now on a more stable upward trajectory.

"The strong result reinforces that Woodside has moved towards providing conservative production guidance," he wrote in a note.

The company also confirmed first ammonia production at its Beaumont New Ammonia project in December, with commissioning continuing into early 2026.

(Reporting by Roushni Nair and Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Thomas Derpinghaus)