Washington ? Oil prices set a new record Tuesday, approaching $47 a barrel, as concerns about Iraqi and Russian output dominated markets that had been calmed a day earlier by the results of a vote in Venezuela.

Light crude for September delivery climbed 70 cents to a new settlement high of $46.75 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On an inflation-adjusted basis, though, oil is still about $10, or 18 percent, cheaper than it was just prior to the first Gulf War.

The travails of Russian oil-giant Yukos took a turn for the worse Tuesday after a Russian court rejected the company’s attempt to suspend government efforts to collect $3.4 billion in back taxes. Yukos pumps about 1.7 million barrels a day and its legal troubles have raised concerns that productivity could suffer.

And in Iraq on Tuesday fighting between U.S. troops and Shiite militants intensified, adding to the oil market’s jitters.

“It’s just more of the same,” said Mike Fitzpatrick, a trader at Fimat USA in New York.