Brazil's National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) ruled out on Thursday interference in the fuel pricing policies of the state oil giant Petrobras.

Speaking at the opening of a new tender for pre-salt oilfields, ANP?s director Decio Oddone emphasized that "there is no intervention and there will not be. Nobody is thinking about interfering in anything. The setting of (fuel) prices in Brazil is and will continue to be free."

According to Oddone, Petrobras and other players in the oil sector will maintain their independence in setting prices.

He added that while the ANP had called for a public discussion about the mechanisms by which the prices are set, due to widespread discontent about the topic, this did not mean the agency would intervene.

Additionally, Oddone said that the ideal scenario would take place when companies have the complete liberty to define their pricing policies with their shareholders.

Furthermore, he said the ANP would prefer no rules on pricing, with the right path "not being of a monopoly, of interference, of populism and of concentration, but of competition, of diversity."

At the same event, Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy Moreira Franco defended companies' right to set their prices.

He explained that the public hearing on the issue would be held with the understanding that prices must be set by the market.

"Certainly, if we had been in a market situation where all sectors were in competition, we would not have faced the problem we faced, because this problem would not have existed," said Franco.

The minister was referring to the truckers' strike which brought Brazil to a virtual standstill at the end of May, with angry drivers blockading highways and ports due to Petrobras increasing the price of diesel.