Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Commitments and Contingencies (Details)

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Commitments and Contingencies (Details) (USD $)
 1 Months Ended 6 Months Ended 1 Months Ended 3 Months Ended 6 Months Ended 1 Months Ended 6 Months Ended 1 Months Ended 3 Months Ended 6 Months Ended 1 Months Ended
Jul. 31, 2012
Y
Well
Jun. 30, 2012
Well
Jun. 30, 2011
Dec. 31, 2011
Nov. 01, 2010
Mar. 31, 2012
Offshore Gabon [Member]
Jun. 30, 2012
Offshore Gabon [Member]
Jun. 30, 2012
Offshore Gabon [Member]
Well
sqkm
Apr. 30, 2012
Onshore Gabon [Member]
sqkm
Jun. 30, 2012
Onshore Gabon [Member]
sqkm
Nov. 01, 2010
Onshore Gabon [Member]
Jan. 31, 2007
Angola [Member]
sqkm
Dec. 31, 2008
Angola [Member]
sqkm
Jun. 30, 2012
Angola [Member]
sqkm
Well
acre
Sep. 30, 2011
USA [Member]
Well
acre
Commitments and Contingencies (Textual) [Abstract]                              
Cost for acquire property               $ 5,300,000              
Number of exploration wells               2           2 3
Length of acquired property               150              
Additional reprocess length of acquired property                 350            
Cost related to drilling               8,600,000           29,500,000  
Cost related to share of drilling               2,600,000              
Acquisition related to obligation               223              
Annual funding related to production license, term               10 years              
Percentage of annual funding over seven years               12.14%              
Percentage of annual funding over last three years               5.00%              
Abandonment cost related to annual funding               9,200,000              
Excess abandonment cost over previous funding               5,400,000              
Abandonment cost related to previous funding           14,600,000                  
Reduction of operating costs from changing operations             700,000                
Increasing per share on fully diluted basis               $ 0.01              
Length of acquired property                   400   1,175 524 1,000  
Joint operation agreement related to third party in working interest percentage                     50.00%     40.00%  
Percentage of reprocessing costs and exploration well drilling costs         75.00%                    
Production license agreement term                           4 years  
Area under acquire property exploration rights agreement term                           1.4  
Additional Joint operation agreement related to third party in working interest percentage                           10.00%  
Drilling cost to company                           14,800,000  
Cost related to seismic obligation                       7,500,000 6,000,000    
Seismic obligation cost to company                       3,750,000 3,000,000    
Full allowance against accounts receivable from partners   5,000,000   4,400,000                   5,000,000  
Percentage of working interest for amounts owned                           40.00%  
Allowance recorded for accounts receivable with remainder   600,000                          
Percentage of carried interest                           10.00%  
Allowance recorded in current period   (6,077,000) (4,648,000)                     6,077,000  
Production license agreement term extended by government                           3 years  
Percentage of working interest acquired                             65.00%
Gross area of acquired property                             22,000
Net area of acquired property                             14,300
Additional year granted to drill exploration commitment wells. 2                            
Well penalty, minimum   5,000,000                          
Well penalty, maximum   10,000,000                          
Recorded restricted cash   10,000,000                          
Number of well exploration   2                          
Dry Hole Costs   $ 2,900,000