In 1978, a study was conducted on the impact of the island, "Ecological Effects of an Artificial Island, Rincon Island." The study documented marine ecological conditions. Habitat features associated with the armor rock and concrete tetrapods surrounding the island support a microecosystem, a rich and varied fauna and flora associated with the high-relief solid substrate of the island, which differs substantially from the more depauperate natural bottom habitats in the area. The offshore leasing of the Rincon Oil Field began from 1929 to 1931 with the issuance of leases for the lands and ended in 1955 with the issuance of a new state lease, PRC 1466. Several different oil companies have held these leases over the years. By the end of the 1980s, Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and Berry Petroleum Company held all the various state leasehold interests at Rincon, except one small portion owned by Energy Development Corporation. In 1992, the California State Lands Commission approved the assignment by ARCO to Berry of all its interests in the Rincon leases. When approving that assignment, the Commission required that ARCO remain liable for removing Rincon Island and the causeway leading to it. British Petroleum (BP), which acquired ARCO, now has this liability. In 1995, the Commission approved the assignment of Berry’s interest in the Rincon leases to RILP with the condition that Berry remain liable for removing the Island and the causeway. In early 1997, Calgary, Alberta-based Windsor Energy Corp., whose principal property was the Rincon Island property, completed its second long reach well on its Rincon Island lease. Here production increased from about per day of oil equivalent in 1995 to about per day by 1998. When Windsor acquired the Rincon Island Field, 16 wells were producing and 51 wells were shut-in. Windsor quickly brought six of the shut-in wells back into production, abandoned six considered non-commercial, and drilled 19 new commercial wells. The wells at Rincon produced from depths between 1,700 and from the Miley sands of the Upper Pliocene-aged Pico Formation in an anticline, which plunges from the west towards the east. On August 20, 1998, Rincon Island Limited Partnership (RILP) and its managing general partner, Canada's Windsor Energy, filed a voluntary petition in the Bankruptcy Court, seeking relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. On 29 January of that year, Stanton Capital Corp., a private investment firm, agreed to buy about half of the parent's assets, including the Rincon Island partnership, for approximately $170 million.