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NEW YORK - A stunning sell-off dragged oil prices to their biggest weekly drop ever and gas prices at the pump in the United States slipped by the more than they have at any point since February, giving consumers a rare breather in a year of record fuel prices.

The national average for a gallon of regular in the United States fell by the most since February, AAA data show, and could ease further in the days to come.

So is it time to declare the energy bubble popped?

Experts won't go that far just yet.

"It's too early to say we've seen the worst of it," said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst of the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J. "We would be Pollyannish if we believe one week represents a trend."

Still industry experts who just days ago thought there was more juice left in oil's meteoric run, are reconsidering.

"If this is not the bubble's implosion, than it's a reasonable facsimile," analyst and trader Stephen Schork said in his daily market commentary. "Time will tell. Nevertheless, for the time being we no longer care to hold a bullish view."

Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell 41 cents Friday to settle at US$128.88 on the New York Mercantile Exchange -- well below its trading record of more than $147 a week earlier.

The average price of a gallon of regular gas fell about a penny for the day, to $4.105, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Diesel prices dipped three-tenths of a cent to $4.842 a gallon.

In Canada, the average price was C$1.37872 per litre according to price watching website Gasbuddy.com, down from C$1.38968 per litre on Thursday.