Europe’s energy crisis is unleashing a global battle over liquefied natural-gas (LNG) tankers. The Wall Street Journal reports that rates to charter the specialized ships are jumping to record highs and the competition is eating up shipping capacity while higher transport costs are helping push gas prices to record highs in Europe and Asia.

The tanker race is another sign of the reshuffling of the global energy map following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The war has intensified competition for tight energy supplies, reoriented commodity flows and fractured parts of the global oil-and-gas market.

One expert says just one LNG tanker is available for charter for a single voyage in Asia two months or more from now, and none is available in the Atlantic. 

Traders are going on a buying spree, shelling out $24.1 billion on orders for new LNG tankers so far in 2022.