Vanco Signs Contract for License in Majunga Basin Offshore Madagascar

HOUSTON March 19, 2001 - Vanco Energy Company signed a contract today for the Majunga Offshore Profond Block in the deepwater Majunga Basin offshore Madagascar.

In a signing ceremony today in Antananarivo, Madagascar, L'Office des Mines Nationales et des Industries Strategiques (OMNIS) and Vanco Madagascar Ltd. (operator, 100%, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanco Energy Company) signed a production sharing contract covering the Majunga Offshore Profond Block in the little explored region of the Majunga Basin offshore Madagascar's northwestern coast adjoining the Mozambique Channel.

The block covers 14,865 square kilometers (3.67 million acres) in primary interest water depths of 1000 meters to 3000 meters (see attached map). "Our study shows that the Majunga Basin is a salt basin with numerous structures, probably Cretaceous in age," says Vanco President Gene Van Dyke. The deepwater independent has been studying the East Africa region for over a year, with an emphasis on the Majunga Basin.

Terms of the agreement call for data processing and studies in the first two-year phase and 2D seismic acquisition in the second two-year phase. Vanco has plans to begin a 1900-kilometer 2D seismic program in May, establishing a reconnaissance data grid for the block.

The company ranks as the leading deepwater acreage holder in West Africa with licenses in Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Morocco, Namibia and Senegal. The Majunga Offshore Profond block is the first license Vanco has been awarded offshore East Africa.

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