Description of Business	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
Description Of Business [Abstract]
Description Of Business [Text Block]	Note 1 – General Description of Business Endeavour International Corporation is an independent oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development, production and acquisition of energy reserves in the U.S. and U.K. Endeavour was incorporated under the laws of the state of Nevada on January 13, 2000. As used in these Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, the terms “Endeavour,” “Company,” “we,” “us,” “our” and similar terms refer to Endeavour International Corporation and, unless the context indicates otherwise, its consolidated subsidiaries. 2013 Liquidity and Capital Resources As of December 31, 2012, we had $874.2 million in outstanding indebtedness. Being highly leveraged, servicing our debt and other long-term obligations will continue to require a significant portion of our cash flow from operations and available cash on hand. The combination of these debt servicing requirements, capital expenditures and the delay in cash flow resulting from the Rochelle mechanical issues may exceed the cash flow from our current operations. Ultimately, our primary uses and sources of financial resources will be impacted by the outcome of our strategic review. During 2013, our primary uses of financial resources are expected to be: our capital expenditures, primarily related to our drilling activities at our Alba, Bacchus and Rochelle fields in the U.K.; and interest payments on existing credit facilities and payments in support of our reimbursement agreements covering our abandonment obligations. We believe we will be able to fund operations for the foreseeable future including our capital expenditures and other expenditure requirements based on our projections of funds generated from operations, cash available and existing sources of financing. Since year-end 2012, we have also completed several transactions to improve our liquidity position and extended the maturities of some of our debt and other obligations. The completion of these recent financing activities are designed to provide sufficient liquidity to bring the Rochelle development on line, drill a third well at Bacchus and allow sufficient time for a thoughtful and disciplined strategic review process. These transactions include: extending or replacing reimbursement agreements covering certain of our abandonment liabilities in the U.K. which would have expired in 2013; entering into a forward sale agreement; entering into a sale and purchase agreement providing for the sale and purchase of a production payment; and extending the maturity of a majority of the commitments under our revolving credit facility. If we are unable to meet any short-term liquidity needs out of cash on hand, we would attempt to refinance debt, sell forward our production, sell assets, issue debt or equity or perform any other alternatives resulting from our strategic review.

Description of Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Note 1 – General

Description of Business

Endeavour International Corporation is an independent oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development, production and acquisition of energy reserves in the U.S. and U.K. Endeavour was incorporated under the laws of the state of Nevada on January 13, 2000. As used in these Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, the terms “Endeavour,” “Company,” “we,” “us,” “our” and similar terms refer to Endeavour International Corporation and, unless the context indicates otherwise, its consolidated subsidiaries.

2013 Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2012, we had $874.2 million in outstanding indebtedness. Being highly leveraged, servicing our debt and other long-term obligations will continue to require a significant portion of our cash flow from operations and available cash on hand. The combination of these debt servicing requirements, capital expenditures and the delay in cash flow resulting from the Rochelle mechanical issues may exceed the cash flow from our current operations. Ultimately, our primary uses and sources of financial resources will be impacted by the outcome of our strategic review.

During 2013, our primary uses of financial resources are expected to be:

our capital expenditures, primarily related to our drilling activities at our Alba, Bacchus and Rochelle fields in the U.K.; and
interest payments on existing credit facilities and payments in support of our reimbursement agreements covering our abandonment obligations.

We believe we will be able to fund operations for the foreseeable future including our capital expenditures and other expenditure requirements based on our projections of funds generated from operations, cash available and existing sources of financing. Since year-end 2012, we have also completed several transactions to improve our liquidity position and extended the maturities of some of our debt and other obligations. The completion of these recent financing activities are designed to provide sufficient liquidity to bring the Rochelle development on line, drill a third well at Bacchus and allow sufficient time for a thoughtful and disciplined strategic review process. These transactions include:

extending or replacing reimbursement agreements covering certain of our abandonment liabilities in the U.K. which would have expired in 2013;
entering into a forward sale agreement;
entering into a sale and purchase agreement providing for the sale and purchase of a production payment; and
extending the maturity of a majority of the commitments under our revolving credit facility.

If we are unable to meet any short-term liquidity needs out of cash on hand, we would attempt to refinance debt, sell forward our production, sell assets, issue debt or equity or perform any other alternatives resulting from our strategic review.