Spot rates for LNG vessel charters are rising sooner than last year as natural gas buyers and sellers hone in on the winter supply scenario and global risks that still abound.

Spot vessel rates for liquefied natural gas deliveries east of the Suez canal reached about $100,000/day Friday for the first time since January and are continuing to tick up, according to data from Spark Commodities. Atlantic rates were $115,750/day by Tuesday while Pacific spot rates climbed to $108,000.

Atlantic and Pacific basin rates are rising about three weeks earlier in the year than last year, Spark CEO Tim Mendelssohn told NGI. The timing of when spot rates rise before winter is hard to compare from year to year, Mendelssohn added, as 2022’s mid-September shift came sooner than years prior....