Vanco Energy Company's history has been marked by risk taking and, for the last thirty years, frontier international exploration.

The company has its beginning in Wichita Falls, Texas, when in 1952, Owner, Founder and President Gene Van Dyke became an Independent Producer and Operator drilling wildcat wells in North Central Texas. In 1958, Van Dyke moved operations to Houston to concentrate on the Texas Gulf Coast under the partnership of Van Dyke & Mejlaender. In 1962, under Van Dyke Oil Company, activity concentrated on South Louisiana, where in 1968, the company discovered the West Lake Arthur gas field (+2 TCF).

In the late 1960's, an unsuccessful leasehold on America's last great oil and gas frontier, Alaska's North Slope, along with the trend of declining reserves in the United States, led Van Dyke to focus on frontier international exploration in the early 1970's.

In 1973, the purchase of a 25% interest in Tenneco's 1.2 million-acre licenses offshore The Netherlands led the company to a 23-year history of oil and gas discoveries in the Dutch North Sea. Among others, Van Dyke discovered the Rijn Field (P/15, 1982) and the Horizon Field (P/9, 1983).

Given his firm belief in mobile production systems and the emerging deepwater potential worldwide, the timing was right for Van Dyke to lead his company in exploring offshore West Africa in 1996. After a regional study of the Lower Congo Basin, Vanco sought and received its first two licenses offshore Africa a year later: the Anton Marin Permit and the Astrid Marin Permit offshore Gabon.

This first deal and the formation of its drilling and development group, the Vanco Gabon Group, in November 1998, led to other license evaluations and acquisitions offshore Africa: Morocco in 1998; Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal in 1999; Equatorial Guinea and Namibia in 2000; Madagascar in 2001.

In 2001, the Vanco Gabon Group (TotalFinaElf, operator) drilled four wells on the Astrid Marin Permit. Although non-commercial, the wells were a technical success for drilling in deep water in a remote location. A world record water depth was set with the Judy 1 well, drilled in 2,791 meters water depth.

In the evolution of its activity offshore Africa, Vanco Energy Company has transited from being merely an exploration company, to being a fully qualified operator for deepwater drilling and development programs.