Singapore (AsiaNews/Ap) - Crude oil prices surged past an unprecedented price Monday as uncertainty swirls over production, high demand, from markets such as China and tight global supplies. Crude was US$ 55.33 per barrel around noon in Asia, up 40 cents from its Friday settlement price. The prices are the highest in a generation and while oil is more than 70 percent higher than a year ago, they are still around US below the peak inflation-adjusted price reached in 1981.

Analysts are looking toward US a barrel, with some saying it may reach that mark by the end of the year. Chicago Board of Trade Chief Executive Bernard Dan said that the U.S. economy would be hurt by the spike, but not significantly. He said the economy could even withstand

prices of US per barrel. "I don't think it is going to be at a level where it is catastrophic in any sense", said Dan.

Market players have been fixated on potential disruptions in production, such as the just-concluded oil workers' strike and threats of rebel attacks in Nigeria, Africa's largest producer, sporadic attacks by militants on Iraqi pipelines, battle between the Russian government and oil giant Yukos; and political tensions in key producer Venezuela have also weighed in recently.