(Reuters) -Investment firm Stonepeak said on Monday it would buy Teekay LNG Partners in a deal worth $6.2 billion, as it looks to take advantage of rising global demand for LNG amid a push towards cleaner sources of energy. Prices of the benchmark U.S. natural gas contract have been on the rise, hitting seven-year highs recently. On Monday, the front-month gas futures contract was up 6.3% at $5.97 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). Stonepeak is offering $17 per unit, which represents a premium of 8.3% to the closing price of Teekay LNG’s common units on Oct. 1. Excluding Teekay’s debt, the deal is for $1.5 billion and the companies expect to close the deal by the end of 2021. Shares of Teekay LNG, which are up nearly 48% this year, jumped 8.1% to $16.95 in morning trade. “Under Stonepeak’s ownership, we expect Teekay LNG to have improved access to competitively priced capital for both fleet renewal and potential future growth ... which has not been available through the public equity capital markets for many years,” Mark Kremin, chief executive of Teekay Gas Group Ltd, said in a statement. Stonepeak’s announcement marks another investment for the firm in the LNG space. It was earlier a part of Hygo Energy Transition Ltd, a 50-50 joint venture between Golar LNG Ltd and Stonepeak Infrastructure Fund II Cayman. Hygo was sold to New Fortress Energy Inc for $2.18 billion earlier in the year. (reut.rs/3AdVcMp) Liquefied natural gas is natural gas that has been cooled to be liquefied — at about -260° Fahrenheit — for shipping and storage. Liquefaction makes it possible to transport natural gas to places natural gas pipelines cannot reach, and to use natural gas as a transportation fuel. Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Uttaresh.V Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.