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Distrigas of Massachusetts LLC declared force majeure Friday — which means that it is unable to meet the contract demand of its 20 “or so” large customers — only days after the U.S. Coast Guard banned a tanker filled with liquefied natural gas (LNG) and destined for the company’s Everett, MA, terminal from entering Boston Harbor due to safety and security concerns, a federal regulatory spokeswoman said.

Distrigas of Massachusetts LLC declared force majeure Friday — which means that it is unable to meet the contract demand of its 20 “or so” customers in New England — only days after the U.S. Coast Guard banned a tanker filled with liquefied natural gas (LNG) and destined for the company’s Everett, MA, terminal from entering Boston Harbor due to safety and security concerns, a FERC spokeswoman said.

The energy industry remained in a high state of alert Tuesday evening and was still assessing the impact of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center buildings in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and in Somerset County, PA, near Pittsburgh. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), and on the major over the counter energy e-commerce systems, including EnronOnline and IntercontinentalExchange, remained shut down or delayed indefinitely. No major energy outages or curtailments were reported other than those in close proximity to the terrorist attacks in New York City.

Following on the heels of Thursday’s measly one-day, 0.2-cent price retracement, natural gas bears were up to their old tricks Friday as they pressured the futures market to a gap lower open on the daily charts. However, that would prove to be just about the extent of the selling because prices were able to ratchet higher from that point forward as traders covered shorts amid constructive weather outlooks. The October contract finished 1.5-cents weaker at $2.38 in holiday abbreviated trading.

As Sonny and Cher came close to singing, “The heat goes on.” Yet despite another day Wednesday of searing hot weather in key market areas with prospects for more of the same today, the overall market was moderately softer. A screen advance of about a nickel failed to lend support to cash prices.

Unable to live up to revised storage expectations, the natural gas futures market plummeted lower Wednesday afternoon as traders continued to liquidate new longs. For the third time in three days the September contract tested, but failed to break through resistance in the $3.35-40 area, paving the way for intra- and inter-day profit-taking. The September contract bore the brunt of the selling pressure, spiraling 21.5 cents lower to close at $3.081.

Unable to resist the weakness of weather fundamentals any longer, combined with facing the usual demand dropoff over a weekend, swing prices registered double-digit losses at nearly all points Friday. An Overnominations Day declaration for Saturday by Southern California Gas caused the biggest drop of about half a dollar at border-SoCal Gas.

Unable to find a suitable generation partner for its high flyingtrading arm UtiliCorp United Inc. instead will make an initialpublic offering for a portion of subsidiary Aquila Energy Corp. andthen spin off the remaining shares next year to its shareholders ina tax-free distribution. The result will be two stand-alonepublicly traded companies, both based in Kansas City.

Despite forecasts calling for temperatures to return to normal,natural gas futures continued lower yesterday as traders pressuredprices to new one-month lows. The February contract was the hardesthit, tumbling 36.9 cents to close at $8.103, a hair beneath theJan. 3 low of $8.14. For the second session in a row, the outmonths remained relatively strong as the 12-month strip only sagged14.3 cents to close at $6.339.