With gas prices falling for more than 100 days in a row through late 2014 and the first few days of 2015, Praba Kesavan, co-owner of a Gulf station in Deptford, stood by as a mechanic worked on the station's pumps.

"We've been pumping continuously for 72 hours," Kesavan said. "All the pumps are slowing down."

The station at the corner of Cooper Street and Delsea Drive — one of the busiest intersections in the township — didn't even operate 24 hours a day until last week, when the owners extended their hours to keep up with demand. Kesavan, who previously worked at Johnson and Johnson and holds a graduate degree in business administration, said he and his colleagues were selling 6,000 gallons every day.

The Gulf was tied for the single cheapest place to buy gas in Gloucester County on Monday afternoon, according to GasBuddy, a website and mobile app that uses customer submissions to rank fuel prices. It has been in a price war with a Citgo station further down Cooper Street for weeks. With a price of $1.97 a gallon for cash purchases of regular gas at about 2 p.m., Kesavan said that after the pumps were up and running again, he'd be dropping the price to $1.95.

Gas prices had fallen continuously for 102 days as of Monday, according to numbers released by the American Automobile Association (AAA). The average price both nationally and locally was $2.20 a gallon. This marks the lowest average since May 9, 2009.

New Jersey, known on the East Coast for low gas prices, isn't a special case. Drivers in 40 states have been able to find gasoline for less than $2.00 per gallon, according to AAA's numbers, and even in Alaska, one of the most expensive places to buy gas, prices have fallen to less than $3.00 for the first time since 2009. Missouri wins the title for the lowest average with $1.86 a gallon.

Of course, these prices are a reflection of the industry at large, AAA said. The report stated that crude oil had lost more than half its value since the middle of 2014.

"At the close of formal trading on Friday, [crude oil] fell by 58 cents per barrel and settled at $52.69. This marks the lowest settlement since April 30, 2009."

Economists at South Jersey colleges could not be reached for comment Monday. The AAA report, however, attributed the plummeting prices to "excess supply and weak demand." It also said that even with civil unrest in Libya, a major oil exporter and member of OPEC, global supply is large enough to compensate for conditions that would otherwise drive up prices.

The report emphasized that it is too soon to tell what the long-term effects on the industry will be. Prices are on track to stay below $3.00 through early 2015.

However, AAA said, "it is worth noting that companies will increasingly face the choice of either continuing expansion plans or cutting capital expenditures in a market that offers significantly lower profit margins."

But at the Gulf station on Monday, there was no sign of a decrease in demand for gas. Traffic choked the lanes near each pump and parking was essentially nonexistent, with drivers lining up right to the edge of the road to get in.

Customers who stopped by mostly said they had pulled over on a whim when they saw how cheap fuel was, while only one of several people interviewed had specifically looked online for prices.

"I didn't even really need gas," said one man as he filled up.

Andy Polhamus may be reached at apolhamus@southjerseymedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ajpolhamus. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.