Vanco Energy Completes Drilling Ivory Coast Well

The permit for the one million acre license area is held under a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) signed with the Government of Cote d'Ivoire on 20 April 1999. Vanco Cote d'Ivoire Ltd. is Operator and holds 27% of the license having previously farmed out to its partners Sinopec Overseas Oil & Gas Ltd. (27%); ONGC Videsh Ltd. (21.15%); Petroci Holding (14.5%) and Oil India Ltd. (10.35%). Vanco Energy Company is proud to have led the first-ever international joint exploration effort between these leading state-owned oil companies.

The well, which was spudded on March 25, 2005, has now been plugged and abandoned. The drillship, the Transocean Deepwater Discovery, was released on April 24, 2005. The well is located 35 kilometers off the coast of western Cote d'Ivoire in 1,735 meters water depth. It was successfully drilled on time and on budget to a total depth of 3,100 meters and the primary objective, the Cretaceous Albian sands, was evaluated.

Vanco Energy will now analyze the results of the well and the ongoing prospectivity of the CI-112 license. To this end, the Government of Cote d'Ivoire has granted a three-month extension to the current period of exploration under the PSC giving Vanco Energy until 20 July 2005 to decide whether to enter the next period of exploration.