Public Offering of units and Certain Provisions of the Partnership Agreement (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Partners' Capital Notes [Abstract]

General Partner Share of Net Income

		Years Ended December 31,
		2012		2011		2010
Income allocation for incentive distributions		$	4,489	$	2,372	$	99
Stock-based compensation attributable to CEI's stock options and
	restricted shares		(4,205)		(3,119)		(3,906)
General partner interest in net loss			(818)		15		(564)
General partner share of net loss		$	(534)	$	(732)	$	(4,371)