Discontinued Operations (Details Textual) (USD $)	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Sep. 30, 2010	Jun. 30, 2010	Mar. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Dec. 31, 2011 Cat Canyon And West Cat Canyon [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Nabors Blue Sky Limited [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 U.S. [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 North Central Texas [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Remora Energy International L P [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Remora Energy International L P [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Stone Mountain Ventures Partnership [Member]
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Company's ownership interest for investments																	49.70%	50.00%
Cash proceeds from affiliate, from sale of oil and gas assets									$ 89,200,000			$ 71,600,000				$ 333,100,000
Earnings (losses) from unconsolidated affiliates	(2,700,000)	33,700,000	9,300,000	16,300,000	4,900,000	11,800,000	8,900,000	7,700,000	56,647,000	33,267,000	(155,432,000)					83,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas-related assets										192,200,000					205,900,000
Percentage of working capital interest sold												25.00%
Impairment of acreage oil and gas property														137,800,000	56,800,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties financing receivable	27,200,000								27,200,000					54,300,000	149,100,000
Gain on disposal of assets									39,600,000			7,200,000
Impairment of long-lived assets										27,372,000			7,900,000
Discontinued Operations (Textual) [Abstract]
Cash distribution from the sale of oil and gas assets									142,984,000
Impairment on wholly owned assets									(255,046,000,000)	(192,179,000)	(205,897,000)
Proportionate share of full cost ceiling test write downs											47,800,000
Goodwill impairment											14,700,000
Impairment of long-lived assets									(7,853,000)	7,500,000
Current liability of discontinued operations	54,287,000				0				54,287,000	0
Noncurrent liability of discontinued operations	71,400,000								71,400,000
Total capitalized cost of suspended wells					42,800,000					42,800,000
Capitalized cost of well in process of drilling	$ 12,100,000								$ 12,100,000