Private-equity firms are scoring lucrative natural-gas exit deals as buyers from across the sector look to capitalize on ballooning demand for the fuel and squeeze out more profits by expanding their reach to wells and end users.

Driving the wave of deals are the growing feedstock needs of expanding liquefied-natural-gas operations and power plants supplying electricity to artificial-intelligence data centers.

In recent years, gas producers bought pipeline operators, while LNG exporters acquired gas fields. Meanwhile, some energy companies bought wholesale gas suppliers, expanding their ability to transport, store and sell their output to different markets.

Companies looking to tap new sources of profit are buying businesses from energy-focused fund managers, according to the Wall Street Journal Markets.