Sep. 14--The five-county Philadelphia area is seeing 2 cents shaved off the average for a gallon of no-lead this morning, bringing the price to $2.67, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

South Jersey's average is down 3 cents from Friday, to $2.44, the auto club said.

The national average was down 1 cent, to $2.57.

In the diesel lanes, the Philly area was unchanged, at $2.88; as was South Jersey, at $2.56. The national diesel average was $2.67, also unchanged.

AAA noted that last week marked the fourth straight week of gas prices easing off. Although prices rose by 1 cent nationally Thursday (to $2.58 a gallon), that figure is $1.09 less than a year ago, and $1.53 below the record price of $4.11, set in July of last year.

"Labor Day has come and gone, which typically signals a drop in gas prices," said Catherine L. Rossi, manager of public and government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. "As motorists return to regular work and school routines, driving levels drop off and gasoline prices typically follow suit. AAA anticipates gas prices will hover at about $2.50 a gallon for the next few weeks."

Meanwhile, oil prices dipped below $69 a barrel, though a strong rally for natural gas extended into its third straight day.

Prices jumped more than 12 percent in value for each per 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas on the New York Mercantile Exchange to start the week.

Rapidly spiking prices led to some talk on Nymex that a very large player in the market believes that, at least in the short term, prices have fallen too far.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs said prices for natural gas may even triple over the winter, though most energy experts believe there is a far greater chance that prices will plunge again.

There are two big factors that support the latter view, which would mean extremely cheap heating bills for a lot of people over the next few months.

The first is that the amount of natural gas in storage is 17 percent greater than it was last year and it is even nearing the maximum storage capacity in some places. And the U.S Energy Information Administration said in its short-term energy outlook that it expects 12 percent more buildup through October.

At the same time most meteorologists predict a very mild winter for large parts of the country.

-----

To see more of The Philadelphia Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com/inquirer.

Copyright (c) 2009, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:NMX, NYSE:GS,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.