PROVIDENCE – “You have to go all the way back to February of 2007 to find a time when gas prices were this low in Rhode Island,” AAA Southern New England wrote today in the nonprofit auto club’s weekly fuel-price report.

In AAA’s Nov. 3 survey, “a 27-cent drop over just the last week continues the recent pattern of plummeting prices,” bringing the average price of self-serve, regular unleaded gasoline at Ocean State stations to $2.359 per gallon. The latest decline – which followed average price reductions of 24 cents in the week ended Oct. 27 (READ MORE) and 25 cents in the week ended Oct. 20 – brings the state’s total price drop to 97 cents over the past month. “Prices were last this low in late February of last year when they were at $2.32[9],” AAA noted. A year ago, the average Rhode Island price was $2.949.

In neighboring Massachusetts, the average price of self-serve regular fell 18 cents over the past week – after falling 20 cents the week before and 31 cents the week ended Oct. 20 – to a Nov. 3 average of $2.459 per gallon. “You have to go all the way back to March of 2007 to find a time when gas prices were this low,” wrote Arthur Kinsman, the auto club’s director of government affairs. A year ago, the average Bay State price was $2.849.

Nationwide over the past week, the average price of self-serve regular fell 25 cents – after falling 26 cents the week ended Oct. 27 and 24 cents the week ended Oct. 20 – to a Nov. 3 average of $2.419 per gallon, AAA found. That was 4 cents below the average price in Massachusetts but 6 cents above this week’s Rhode Island average.

Meanwhile, at Rhode Island stations this week, the range in self-serve prices for unleaded regular narrowed to 60 cents, from the 66 cents of last week’s survey. Prices reported today ranged from a low of $2.199 to a high of $2.799, AAA said. Similar ranges were seen for other grades of fuel, which had average self-serve prices of $2.529 for midgrade unleaded (down 28 cents per gallon), $2.649 for premium unleaded gasoline (down 27 cents) and $3.449 for diesel (down 36 cents).

AAA Southern New England is a nonprofit auto club providing travel, insurance, finance and auto-related services to more than 2 million local members with 34 offices in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. To find the most up-to-date self-service and full-service gasoline prices in a given area, go to www.AAA.com and click on Gas Saving Tips & Tools.