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March 23, 1999 3:12 PM, EST

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The price of diesel rose sharply this week in the wholesale and retail markets, and analysts expect them to continue rising from some of the lowest levels since 1994.

At the end of 1998, the average price of diesel at self-service pumps stood at 96.6 cents a gallon. The cost started to creep upward during the first month of 1999, peaking at 97 cents during the week of Jan. 18. It then bottomed out at 95.3 cents about a month later.

The $1 for a gallon of self-service diesel is a 15-week high, according to the Energy Information Administration. The 3.6-cent increase from the previous week was the biggest jump since April 1996, when the price rose 5.6 cents in one week.

But the latest figure is far from the almost $1.33 a gallon that buyers were paying in October 1996, the highest price in the last five years.

Last week, the steepest increase was in the West. When the 10.4-cents-a-gallon leap in California is added to the regional figure, drivers in western states saw the price go up an average of 7.9 cents. Among the five federally designated regions, the smallest increase came in New England, where the cost rose 0.8 cent.

Wholesale diesel prices climbed 39% between Feb. 16 and March 12, according to EIA.

For the full story, see the March 22 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.