Natural gas buying at prices linked to dominant benchmarks like Henry Hub, the Japan-Korea Marker and the Dutch Title Transfer Facility hit record levels last year as buyers scrambled to secure supplies amid one of the worst energy crises in decades, according to the International Gas Union (IGU).

The increase in global gas-on-gas competition (GOG) took share from other price formation mechanisms that include gas buying linked to oil indexes or purchases made under regulated structures, according to the IGU’s 15th Wholesale Gas Price Survey.

GOG accounted for more than 50% of global gas consumption for the first time ever. It also represented a new high of 56% of total imported gas volumes, IGU said. While IGU’s definition of GOG includes a variety of price mechanisms, it...