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Unlike most of the other developers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals along the Southern California coast, Australia-based Woodside Natural Gas has plenty of reserves and liquefaction capacity poised to target the most attractive markets in Asia and North America. As a result, it has gone to a two-vessel concept for its Ocean Way proposal that would inject new gas imports into California without building permanent storage and regasification facilities offshore or on land.

After taking a breather Wednesday to consolidate early-week spikes, it was off to the races again for the cash market Thursday. Unlike on Monday and Tuesday when dollar-plus jumps were common, there were only a couple this time, but all of Thursday’s gains were solidly in double digits as they ranged from a little less than 30 cents to $1.20 or so. Price strength was fairly consistent across the various geographic market areas.

Unlike the previous post-weekend resumption of trading, Monday’s cash market acknowledged the bearish weather and storage fundamentals that have dominated January so far with declines across the board. In the process prices ignored the support of Friday’s screen gain of 37.5 cents, but on Tuesday they are likely to heed the negative influence of the February futures contract’s plunge of 70.6 cents Monday.

Unlike last week, there were no bells or whistles Thursday morning as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that 20 Bcf was removed from storage for the week ended Jan. 6. While the number was well within industry expectations, February natural gas futures ultimately broke below the psychological $9 level for the first time since the September contract did it in Aug. 2005, settling Thursday at $8.943, down 29.5 cents from Wednesday’s close.

It was no surprise that nearly all points were in rebound mode Monday from weekend softening. But it was somewhat surprising that unlike last week, when Northeast citygates tended to lead price climbs higher and also the subsequent retreats, it was western points (Rockies/Pacific Northwest, Western Canada, California and the Southwest basins) which were in the driver’s seat for this new burst of cash bullishness.

Unlike before, during and after the wholesale energy market implosion in the West when California energy stakeholders were out of sync with state policymakers, the state’s chief regulator this year sees a consensus forming through increased collaboration among all of the key players at both the federal and state levels.

Unlike the recent past when penetration of the $6 level has been short-lived, March natural gas futures on Friday instead appeared to be fairly comfortable trading in the high $5.90s. Whether the prompt month can stay below $6 following the long holiday weekend is another question entirely.

Unlike the previous week, there was no major rebound Monday from plunging prices going into the weekend. But new softness was capped at a quarter’s decline, and only a few points outside the Rockies and Northeast fell by 20 cents or more. A couple of scattered moderate gains were recorded, and most of the rest of the market ranged from flat to down 18 cents.

Unlike Lehman Brothers, which dropped its natural gas pricing forecast into 2004 (see related story), Standard & Poor’s (S&P) analysts believe that North American natural gas prices may spike this winter if the exploration and production (E&P) industry does not increase its drilling activity.