Acquisitions and Divestitures - Additional Information (Details)						1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 19, 2014 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Aug. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2013 USD ($)	May. 17, 2013 USD ($) Well	Mar. 28, 2013 USD ($) Well	Aug. 31, 2015 USD ($) a Location	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($) a Boe Well Location	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($) a	Mar. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 Well	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2015 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
General and administrative expense																	$ 10,300,000	$ 7,864,000	$ 7,751,000
Goodwill								$ 17,532,000				$ 22,992,000					17,532,000	22,992,000
Revenues																	49,390,000	47,994,000	29,943,000
Net loss								$ (116,511,000)	$ 1,718,000	$ (748,000)	$ (1,114,000)	$ (37,318,000)	$ 4,214,000	$ 1,530,000	$ 2,740,000		(116,655,000)	$ (28,834,000)	(19,875,000)
Company acquired gross acres | a						1,650
Working interest acquired						$ 3,300,000
Cash consideration																				$ 3,400,000
Gain (loss) on sale of properties																	$ 1,617,000		(121,000)
Effective date of transaction																	Mar. 01, 2015
Guadalupe County, Texas, and Caldwell County, Texas [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration				$ 500,000
Gain (loss) on sale of properties				$ (100,000)
Number of oil wells sold | Well				9
Effective date of sale																	Apr. 01, 2013
Harrison County, Texas [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration					$ 100
Gain (loss) on sale of properties					$ (100,000)
Number of oil wells sold | Well					1
Effective date of sale																	Apr. 01, 2013
Earthstone Energy Reverse Acquisition [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Common stock shares issued in exchange for acquisition | shares	9,124,000
Common stock, price per share | $ / shares	$ 0.001
Goodwill	$ 17,533,000
2014 Eagle Ford Properties [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Percentage of oil and natural gas property interests held by a wholly owned subsidiary	28.57%
Common stock shares issued in exchange for acquisition | shares	2,957,288
Assumed income tax rate																	35.00%
Goodwill	$ 1,547,000
Consideration paid	$ 56,425,000
2014 Eagle Ford Properties [Member] | Non-recurring Transaction Costs [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
General and administrative expense																	$ 3,300,000
2013 Eagle Ford Acquisition [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Assumed income tax rate																	35.00%
Purchase price, total		$ 15,100,000	$ 71,600,000
Goodwill																			$ 0
Effective date of acquisition																			Jan. 01, 2013
Revenues																			$ 9,500,000
Net loss																			6,200,000
Acquisition cost																	$ 1,100,000
Consideration paid																			$ 86,687,000
2013 Eagle Ford Acquisition [Member] | Non-recurring Transaction Costs [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
General and administrative expense																	$ 1,100,000
Other Acquisitions [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition of working interest						33.00%
Number of locations for eagle ford with expected development | Location						16
Consideration paid							$ 4,066,000
Other Acquisitions [Member] | Austin Chalk Wells [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition of operating interest							50.00%
Company acquired gross acres | a							1,000			1,000
Number of wells acquired | Well							2
Percentage of acres held for production							100.00%
Gross production, barrels of oil equivalents per day | Boe							44
Other Acquisitions [Member] | Northern Kames County [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition of working interest							33.00%
Gross acres acquired | a							400
Other Acquisitions [Member] | Gonzales County Acreage [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of locations for eagle ford with expected development | Location							13
Other Acquisitions [Member] | Banks Field of McKenzie County [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of wells acquired | Well							41
Number of drilling wells acquired | Well							21
Consideration paid							$ 1,400,000
Purchase price adjustment for revenues, net for production taxes, operating expenses and capital costs							$ 2,000,000
Net acres acquired | a							164
Other Acquisitions [Member] | Scenario Forecast [Member] | Gonzales County Acreage [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of drilling wells acquired | Well																4