Crude oil surged more than 6% and blew past $91 a barrel on Monday as the energy markets were rocked by the turmoil in the Middle East spreading in violent fashion into Libya, Africa’s third-largest oil producer.

Television images and reports of violent clashes in Libya raised the fear the political unrest will eventually impact Saudi Arabia.

The leap in energy prices comes as U.S. equity markets were closed in observance of President’s Day, but global markets retreated in response to the snowballing unrest in the Arab world in the wake of revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.

Over the weekend the death toll in Libya surged above 200 as protesters and security forces clashed in the streets, a further sign that Muammar al-Qaddafi is struggling to hold onto power after 42 years of rule.

“The oil market continues to price the ever increasing amount of risk in,” Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, told FOX Business. “The greatest fear is the unrest in Libya spreads to a country like Saudi Arabia.”  

Crude hit broke through $90 a barrel after Fitch downgraded Libya's credit rating to "BBB" and put the nation on watch for further downgrades. The ratings company cited the "eruption of political risk" and warned a disruption in oil production poses a threat to Libya's credit rating. Fitch said political reforms that successfully "quelled the unrest" would help stabilize Libya's rating.

Buying gained further momentum after the U.S. ordered all non-essential diplomats and all embassy family members to leave Libya and reports indicated fighter jets were firing on protesters in the streets there. 

Crude soared as high as $91.55 on Monday and the March contract was up $5.22 a barrel, or 6.06%, to a two-week high of $91.42 in late afternoon trading. The more heavily traded April contract leaped even higher, soaring $5.68 a barrel, or 6.33% to $95.39.

The energy market received only a fleeting spike from the turmoil in Egypt earlier this month, briefly soaring beyond $90 a barrel before quickly retreating.

Coming into Monday's action, crude had been down 6.5% on the month and lost ground in four of its prior six sessions.

“We’re very, very concerned about the oil supplies we import from the Mideast and other areas,” Joe Petrowski, CEO of petroleum wholesaler Gulf Oil, told FOX Business. “We thought for a while oil prices were going to close in on $125 a barrel and close to $4 a gallon at the pump….Recent developments have almost made that certain.”

Petrowski predicted gasoline prices will jump 5 to 10 cents a gallon on Tuesday. The national average price of gasoline in the U.S. stands at $3.17 a gallon.

In response to the turmoil, BASF’s oil and gas exploration arm, Wintershall, is preparing to shut down its output in Libya – as much as 100,000 barrels of crude per day -- and evacuate staff there. Wintershall said it has evacuated 130 people so far out of Libya to Germany and is temporarily leaving its Tripoli office unstaffed.

BP (BP), which has been preparing an onshore rig to begin drilling in western Libya, told Reuters it has suspended operations due to the violence.

Following Nigeria and Angola, Libya is Africa’s third-largest oil producer, pumping about 1.6 million barrels of crude a day. It is also the sixth-largest per capita oil producer in the world and has the largest proven oil reserves in Africa, Fitch said.

Libya’s economy relies on the oil industry, which contributes about 95% of the country’s export earnings and 60% of its public-sector wages, according to The Wall Street Journal. Libya has about 3.34% of the world’s reserves, with 41.464 billion barrels at the end of 2007.