HOUSTON, Sept 17 -

Some top natural gas executives on Tuesday said they believe

Vice President Kamala Harris was credible when she pledged to

continue to allow natural-gas fracking if she wins the Nov. 5

election to become U.S. president, since the Democratic

candidate understands energy prices would rise otherwise.

Fracking, a major industry in battleground state

Pennsylvania, has become a big issue in the U.S. presidential

campaign. Harris opposed fracking as a U.S. Senator from

California, but now she says she would not ban it on federal

lands as president.

Her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump,

supports fracking and says he believes Harris would seek to ban

it.

The head of the largest U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNBG)

exporter on Tuesday said Harris had to pivot to being more open

to fracking, because natural gas prices would be much higher

without it.

Cheniere Energy CEO Jack Fusco, whose Sabine Pass

facility in Louisiana is the largest U.S. LNG export plant, said

at the GasTech industry conference that he trusts Harris's

support of fracking unless proven otherwise and wants cooler

heads to prevail on the energy transition debate.

Woodside CEO Meg O'Neill, whose Australian energy

company is buying U.S. LNG plant developer Tellurian,

voiced the same rationale.

"If you stop fracking in the U.S., it will be devastating

for the economy," O'Neill said. Harris may not have understood

that when she opposed fracking, O'Neill added.

"I suspect the statements she made earlier were made without

full understanding of the benefit and potential consequences,"

she said.

The executives were interviewed at the GasTech conference in

Houston.

Harris is locked in a tight race with Trump, and both are

campaigning hard in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, one

of the nation's largest producers of natural gas.