DOCUMENT AND ENTITY INFORMATION	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Nov. 14, 2012
Entity Registrant Name	PYRAMID OIL CO
Entity Central Index Key	0000081318
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Smaller Reporting Company
Trading Symbol	pdo
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		4,688,085
Document Type	10-Q
Amendment Flag	false
Document Period End Date	Sep. 30, 2012
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q3
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2012