Consol Energy Inc., an Appalachian coal and natural-gas producer, boosted its outlook for 2012 coal shipments after reporting profit rose 16 percent on higher demand.Net income climbed to $77.4 million, or 34 cents a share, from $66.7 million, or 29 cents, a year earlier, Pittsburgh- based Consol said today. The company was forecast to earn 72 cents, according to the mean of 10 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose 23 percent to $1.59 billion.Consol, led by J. Brett Harvey, boosted its production forecast by 1 million tons to between 60.5 million and 62.5 million tons to capitalize on export demand for both thermal and metallurgical varieties of the fuel."Inventories are getting tight in the U.S., there's export demand," said Meredith Bandy, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets...