THE Madagascan government said on Wednesday it had signed a contract with US firm Vanco Energy to begin oil exploration off the northwestern coast of the large Indian Ocean island nation. Madagascar has already awarded contracts to four other United States and Canadian firms, Gulfstream, Hunt Oil, Triton and Xpronet, for oil prospecting in the country since 1997. The latest contract covers a surface area of 14_800 square kilometers where the ocean depth is between 1_000 and 3_000 meters. – AFP