Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Details) (USD $)	9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		9 Months Ended											12 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		9 Months Ended								3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended								9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014 mi	Sep. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2014 October 2014 through February 2015 [Member] bbl	Sep. 30, 2014 Commodity Contract [Member] Contract	Dec. 31, 2013 Commodity Contract [Member] Contract	Sep. 30, 2014 Commodity Contract [Member] Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member] Current Assets [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Commodity Contract [Member] Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member] Current Assets [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Commodity Contract [Member] Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member] Other Assets [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Commodity Contract [Member] Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member] Other Assets [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Commodity Contract [Member] Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member] Current Liabilities [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Commodity Contract [Member] Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member] Current Liabilities [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Commodity Contract [Member] Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member] Other Liabilities [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Commodity Contract [Member] Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member] Other Liabilities [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Commodity Contract [Member] Jan 2014 to Feb 2014 [Member] bbl	Dec. 31, 2013 Commodity Put Option [Member] bbl Contract	Sep. 30, 2014 Wells Fargo Bank [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Wells Fargo Bank [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Revenue [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Revenue [Member] Customer Concentration Risk [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Accounts Receivable [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Accounts Receivable [Member] Product Concentration Risk [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Minimum [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Minimum [Member] Customer Concentration Risk [Member] Customer	Sep. 30, 2014 Maximum [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Maximum [Member] Customer Concentration Risk [Member] Customer	Sep. 30, 2014 Producing Oil and Gas Properties [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Producing Oil and Gas Properties [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Producing Oil and Gas Properties [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Producing Oil and Gas Properties [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Non-Producing Oil and Gas Properties [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Non-Producing Oil and Gas Properties [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Non-Producing Oil and Gas Properties [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Non-Producing Oil and Gas Properties [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 South Texas Project acreage [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 South Texas Project acreage [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 West Texas Project acreage [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 West Texas Project acreage [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Napoleonville, Louisiana acreage [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Napoleonville, Louisiana acreage [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Other Acreage Areas [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Other Acreage Areas [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Onshore Leasehold [Member]
Nature of Operations and Principles of Consolidation [Abstract]
Primary area of operation (in miles)	1,000
Components of Prepayments and Other [Abstract]
Cash collateral deposits for commodity purchases	$ 5,000,000		$ 13,705,000
Insurance premiums	2,596,000		2,490,000
Rents, license and other	837,000		584,000
Prepayments, total	8,433,000		16,779,000
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, useful life																								3 years		20 years																		3 years
Capitalized costs for non-producing oil and gas leasehold interests specified as percentage of total costs (in hundredths)																																4.00%		4.00%
Total Non-producing Leasehold Costs	4,024,000		4,906,000																																	3,569,000	4,217,000	0	116,000	48,000	162,000	407,000	411,000
Fair value measurements for oil and gas properties that were subject to fair value impairment [Abstract]
Net book value January 1																																										411,000	329,000
Property additions																																										200,000	304,000
Impairment	572,000	414,000																										0	74,000	0	216,000	168,000	98,000	572,000	198,000							(204,000)	(222,000)
Net book value end of period																																										407,000	411,000
Cash Deposits and Other Assets [Abstract]
Insurance collateral deposits	5,210,000		3,718,000
State collateral deposits	149,000		160,000
Materials and supplies	457,000		609,000
Cash deposits and other	5,816,000		4,487,000
Revenue Recognition [Abstract]
Increase in the entity's reported revenue	1,054,350,000	1,176,156,000
Concentration of Credit Risk [Line Items]
Concentration risk, percentage (in hundredths)																					50.00%		95.00%
Concentration risk, additional characteristic																					Large crude oil refining concerns		Crude oil and natural gas marketing activities
Number of customers																									3		4
Maximum percentage of US demand supplied by company (in hundredths)	1.00%
Percentage of revenues from one customer which loss would not have material effect (in hundredths)																				10.00%
Industry practice payment of receivables																						20 days
Letter of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity																		60,000,000
Standby letters of credit issued																		13,100,000	14,600,000
Covenant terms																		Such restrictions include the maintenance of a combined 1.1 to 1.0 current ratio and the maintenance of positive net earnings excluding inventory valuation changes, as defined, among other restrictions. The Company is currently in compliance with all such financial covenants.
Current ratio																		1.1
Statement of Cash Flows [Abstract]
Interest paid	2,000	24,000
Income taxes paid	8,140,000	9,863,000
Non-cash investing activities for property and equipment	3,315,000	1,454,000	1,507,000	2,419,000
Earnings Per Share [Abstract]
Weighted average number of shares outstanding (in shares)	4,217,596		4,217,596
Fair Value Forward Hydrocarbon Commodity Contracts at Gross Valuation [Abstract]
Asset Derivatives								0	449,000	0	0	0	0	0	0
Liability Derivatives								0	0	0	0	10,000	54,000	0	0
Less Counterparty Offsets								0	(54,000)	0	0	0	(54,000)	0	0
As Reported Fair Value Contracts								$ 0	$ 395,000	$ 0	$ 0	$ 10,000	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Number of contracts held						1	1										1
Volume of crude oil committed under commodity put option (in barrels)																	100,000
Volume committed per day under commodity purchase and sale contract (in barrels or mmbtu)					165											175