Mumbai, June 20: Oil prices surged more than 2 per cent on Thursday over fears of a possible conflict between Iran and the US as Tehran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said that it had shot down an "intruding" US spy drone. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was up by 2.23 per cent at $63.20 a barrel.

In the statement issued earlier on Thursday, the IRGC said the US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down by its Air Force near the Kouh-e Mobarak region after the aircraft violated Iranian airspace, a Press TV report said. Saudi Arabia Rules Out War With Iran After Gulf Attacks.

The US military has however, denied flying the drone over the Iranian airspace.  Oil market has been volatile off-late owing to the tension in the Persian Gulf.  The Brent jumped nearly 4 per cent over the June 13 attacks on the two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 20, 2019 03:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).