PROVIDENCE – Gasoline prices in Rhode Island have fallen for the third week in a row, AAA Southern New England reported Monday.

The auto club’s Feb. 8 survey found the average price of self-serve, unleaded regular at Ocean State stations was $2.71 per gallon, down 1 cent from last week.

Oil prices bounced back on Monday after falling to a seven-week low of $69.50 a barrel on Friday, Bloomberg News reported.

Crude oil rose as much as 95 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $72.14 a barrel in New York Mercantile Exchange trading. Prices have fallen 15 percent since hitting $83.95 on Jan. 11.

“Everyone is going to be watching every piece of economic data like a hawk looking for signs of self-sustaining economic recovery,” Anthony Nunan, an assistant general manager for risk management at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo, told Bloomberg. “The geopolitical risk factors were on the backburner through 2009, but in 2010 they are back and the big one is Nigeria.”

In its survey, AAA found prices in Rhode Island ranging from $2.59 to $2.91 per gallon for unleaded regular. At $2.71, the average price per gallon in Rhode Island is 6 cents higher than the average price nationwide of $2.65.

A year ago, gas prices in Rhode Island stood at $1.94 per gallon, 77 cents below the current price, as they continued to see-saw from the highs of the previous summer and the lows of the early winter, according to AAA.

Prices fell for a third straight week in Massachusetts. The AAA survey found the average price of self-serve, unleaded regular was $2.65 per gallon in the Bay State, down 3 cents from last week and 6 cents below Rhode Island’s average.

At stations in Rhode Island this week, the survey found average self-serve prices of $2.85 per gallon for midgrade unleaded, $2.95 for premium unleaded gasoline, and $2.94 for diesel.

For more information, visit AAA.com.