Oil prices look set to break through the $50 barrier next week after soaring to new record highs today.

Oil prices spiralled towards the $50 mark today as concerns over supplies intensified after violence flared in Iraq.

Crude futures rose to a new high near $49 a barrel as the threat of sabotage to Iraqi oil infrastructure loomed larger than promises from Baghdad to boost exports in coming days.

The acting oil minister of post-war Iraq predicted today that crude production would double within a month and oil exports would resume “within three weeks”.