Searching for increased demand. (natural gas)

Increasing natural gas demand is a priority of producers and distributors alike, according to the chairman of the American Gas Association.

On May 23, Bob Catell, president, Brooklyn Union Gas Co., Brooklyn, N.Y., told the IPAA Natural Gas Committee that AGA is evaluating its $15 million advertising campaigns and looking at other marketing opportunities. "If we can increase demand, that will firm up prices at the wellhead.

Natural gas, the bridge between a clean environment and a strong economy has been his theme, said Catell, who has only a few months left on his one-year term.

The industrial market remains promising for increasing demand, as does electrical generation, although the latter market is highly price competitive, he said. AGA has about 300 members, mostly local distribution companies and pipelines.

In addition to Catell, another association chairman addressed the committee. Ray Galvin, chairman, Natural Gas Supply Association, said that although the early excesses of the Public Utilities Regulatory Power Act have disappeared, efforts to repeal the act without a change in regulations would further hurt natural gas demand.

Galvin, who is president of Chevron USA Production Co., Houston, said his association is working with Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), who has proposed an end to PURPA, to convince him that it poses a "significant threat to our industry," he said.

Noting the growth in independent power producers, he said NGSA hopes to derail the PURPA deregulation effort unless it is accompanied by deregulation of distribution systems. Otherwise, many natural gas producers would lose their market.