The price of gas dropped about a nickel a gallon since last Friday in the Philadelphia region, on both sides of the river, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.
The average for a gallon of regular no-lead was down 4 cents today, to $2.92, in Philadelphia and its four suburban counties.
The average in South Jersey was down 6 cents, to $2.70.
The national gas average was down 5 cents from last Friday, to $2.83.
At this time a year ago, gas prices were heading up in advance of the Memorial Day holiday, and continued to increase until late June, when they hit $2.74 in the Philly area and $2.54 in South Jersey, both on June 20. The prices then began a retreat.
And if you can remember back a year before that, average gas prices hit a hit in June 2008 in the $4 range in the Philly area, in South Jersey and at the national level.
The diesel average also was down since last Friday: by 3 cents, to $3.26, in the Philadelphia area; by 4 cents, $2.93, in South Jersey; and by 3 cents, to $3.08, at the national level.
Oil prices fell below $70 a barrel amid concerns that Europe's financial crisis may stifle a global economic recovery and depress demand for crude.
At early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for June delivery was down $1.86 to $68.28 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The July contract lost $1.68 to settle at $70.80 a barrel Thursday.
Crude has fallen about 20 percent so far this month after touching an 18-month high of $87.15 on May 3 as investor confidence tumbled amid fears that deep government spending cuts in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal to stave off a debt default will hurt European economic growth.
"There are clearly fears that the announced fiscal consolidation measures could sharply curb economic growth and oil demand in Europe," Commerzbank said in a report.
In other Nymex trading in June contracts, heating oil fell 0.60 cent to $1.8959 a gallon, and gasoline dropped 0.90 cent to $1.9555 a gallon. Natural gas slid 1.4 cents to $4.092 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, the Brent crude July contact was down 35 cents to $71.49 on the ICE futures exchange.
