U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman has warned countries studying pricing policies as a step toward developing a natural-gas cartel that efforts to threaten free markets and the free flow of energy "are unwarranted and inefficient," The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Bodman, speaking at a Federal Trade Commission conference on energy markets on Tuesday, countered that, in the long-run, threatening the free flow of energy "would damage the interests and the global standing of the producing nations themselves."

Globally and nationally, "an open and competitive market...is essential to increasing energy security around the world," he was quoted as saying.

He also told the media that neither producing nor consuming nations would benefit from a cartel.

"I think that when you have anti-competitive acts, it generally leads to problems for both the consuming nations, as well as the supplying nations," he said.

During a meeting of major natural-gas producing nations Monday in Qatar, Algeria's energy minister noted that they are moving toward forming a group similar to OPEC.