Note 1 - Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies (Detail) (USD $)	12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012 Prior to Reverse Stock Split [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 After Reverse Stock Split [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Not In Service [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Asset under Construction [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Oil and Gas Properties [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Gerrity Oil Joint Venture [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Gerrity Oil Joint Venture [Member]	Jan. 01, 2013 HKN Bakken, Inc. [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Patents [Member]
Stockholders' Equity, Reverse Stock Split	The consolidated financial statements retroactively reflect the effect of a one-for-forty reverse stock split which was approved by shareholders on October 29, 2012 and effective October 30, 2012.Accordingly, all disclosures involving the number of shares of our common stock outstanding, issued, or to be issued, such as with a transaction involving our common stock, and all per share amounts, retroactively reflect the impact of the reverse stock split.In conjunction with the reverse stock split, our shareholders also approved a reduction of our common stock shares authorized from 24 million shares to 2 million shares.Our shares authorized have been adjusted to reflect this change.
Common Stock, Shares Authorized (in Shares)	2,000,000	24,000,000	24,000,000	2,000,000
Joint Venture Ownership Interest Percentage										50.00%	50.00%
Joint Venture Ownership Interest Percentage Transferred To Newly Formed Corporation												50.00%
Consolidating Percentage of Newly Formed Corporation												100.00%
Trade Accounts Receivable, Net (in Dollars)	$ 195,000	$ 0
Other Receivables (in Dollars)	8,000	147,000
Discontinued Operation, Allowance For Doubtful Accounts Receivable (in Dollars)	156,000
Allowance for Doubtful Accounts Receivable (in Dollars)	65,000
Property, Plant and Equipment, Other, Gross (in Dollars)	6,236,000	6,236,000			6,200,000
Construction in Progress, Gross (in Dollars)	1,717,000	631,000				1,700,000
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life								3 years	7 years
Depreciation, Nonproduction (in Dollars)	50,000	61,000
Proved Developed Oil And Gas Property (in Dollars)	1,800,000
Proved Undeveloped Oil And Gas Property, Excluded From Depletion (in Dollars)	1,200,000
Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization (in Dollars)	469,000	286,000					212,000
Finite-Lived Patents, Gross (in Dollars)													2,600,000
Finite-Lived Intangible Asset, Useful Life								6 years	21 years
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets, Accumulated Amortization (in Dollars)													719,000
Amortization of Intangible Assets (in Dollars)	205,000	224,000
Prepaid Drilling Costs (in Dollars)	909,000
Land Available-for-sale (in Dollars)	$ 113,000