Supermajor BP Plc will pick up a majority stake in ailing Canadian oil sands

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company Value Creation Inc, a property for which Reliance Industries too was said to be in race.

BP will pay an undisclosed amount for a majority stake in the 185,000-acre Terre de Grace oil sands property in northern Alberta, closely held Value Creation said in a statement.

Earlier, it was reported that RIL had made a USD 2 billion bid for majority stake in Value Creation. Though, the company spokesperson declined to confirm if it had actually put in a bid.

Canada's oil sands has the largest crude reserves outside the Middle East.

The news comes within days of RIL's takeover bid for bankrupt chemical maker LyondellBassel being snubbed by its management.

RIL, flush with cash from sale of natural gas from its eastern offshore KG-D6 field, was said to be in negotiations to buy a majority stake in Alberta-based oil sands minnow. Value Creation is a privately-held company that owns 430 square miles of leases in the oil sands region of Alberta.

The largest block of leases, Terre de Grace, covers around 290 square miles in the western part of the Athabasca region. The company, which is reported to be in financial difficulties, also owns proprietary upgrading technologies to turn bitumen into refinery-ready light crudes.