(A.G.A.) forecasts a 3.4-percent increase in natural gas use for 1995, to 22.5 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) from 21.7 quads in 1994. "Such an increase would continue an eight-year trend that has seen natural gas consumption rise nearly 30 percent since 1986," Michael Baly, A.G.A. president, noted in a presentation to New York securities analysts. Industrial sales (including nonutility generators) should increase 3.2 percent; residential and commercial sales, 3.6 percent; and electric utility sales, 2.6 percent.
In the long term, A.G.A. expects natural gas consumption to account for 26 percent of the nation's total primary energy use by 2010. Gas demand should rise by 4.2 quads, or 19 percent, between 1994 and 2010, with an annualized average of 1.1 percent growth.