Liquidity	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
Text Block [Abstract]
Liquidity	Note 2 – Liquidity Historically, our primary ongoing source of cash has been dividends from Petrodelta and the sale of oil and gas properties. Our primary use of cash has been to fund oil and gas exploration projects, principal payments on debt, interest, and general and administrative costs. We require capital principally to fund the exploration and development of new oil and gas properties. As is common in the oil and gas industry, we have various contractual commitments pertaining to exploration, development and production activities. See Note 8 – Gabon, Note 9 – Indonesia and Note 5 – Dispositions, Discontinued Operations for our contractual commitments. The environments in which we operate are often difficult and the ability to operate successfully depends on a number of factors including our ability to control the pace of development, our ability to apply “best practices” in drilling and development, and the fostering of productive and transparent relationships with local partners, the local community and governmental authorities. Financial risks include our ability to control costs and attract financing for our projects. In addition, often the legal systems of certain countries are not mature, and their reliability can be uncertain. This may affect our ability to enforce contracts and achieve certainty in our rights to develop and operate oil and natural gas projects, as well as our ability to obtain adequate compensation for any resulting losses. Our strategy depends on our ability to have significant influence over operations and financial control. Our operations are subject to various risks inherent in foreign operations. These risks may include, among other things, loss of revenue, property and equipment as a result of hazards such as expropriation, nationalization, war, insurrection, civil unrest, strikes and other political risks, increases in taxes and governmental royalties, being subject to foreign laws, legal systems and the exclusive jurisdiction of foreign courts or tribunals, renegotiation of contracts with governmental entities, changes in laws and policies, including taxes, governing operations of foreign-based companies, currency restrictions and exchange rate fluctuations and other uncertainties arising out of foreign government sovereignty over our international operations. Our international operations may also be adversely affected by the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-corruption laws, laws and policies of the United States affecting foreign policy, foreign trade, taxation and the possible inability to subject foreign persons to the jurisdiction of the courts in the United States. As a result of the situation in Venezuela, the actions of the Venezuelan government which have and continue to adversely affect our operations and the expectation that dividends from Petrodelta will be minimal over the next few years, cash generated from operations has been limited and this has had a significant adverse effect on our ability to obtain financing to acquire and develop growth opportunities elsewhere. In the consolidated financial statements issued in the prior year, we discussed certain doubts about our ability to continue as a going concern. At the time of issuance, we expected that in 2013 we would not generate revenues, we would continue to generate losses from operations, and that our cash flows would not be sufficient to cover our operating expenses. While we believed that we would be able to raise additional capital through issuances of debt and/or equity or through sales of assets, our circumstances at such time raised substantial doubt about our ability to continue to operate as a going concern, and this was disclosed in the notes to the consolidated financial statements. As discussed above under Share Purchase Agreement, on December 16, 2013, Harvest and HNR Energia entered into the Share Purchase Agreement with Petroandina and Pluspetrol, its parent, to sell all of our 80 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding to Petroandina in two closings for an aggregate cash purchase price of $400 million. The first closing occurred on December 16, 2013 contemporaneously with the signing of the Share Purchase Agreement, when we sold a 29 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding for $125 million. Proceeds from the December 2013 sale of the 29 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding are expected to be adequate to meet our short-term liquidity requirements. As discussed above and in Note 5 – Dispositions, Share Purchase Agreement below, on December 16, 2013, Harvest and HNR Energia entered into the Share Purchase Agreement with Petroandina and Pluspetrol to sell all of our 80 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding to Petroandina in two closings for an aggregate cash purchase price of $400 million. The first closing occurred on December 16, 2013 contemporaneously with the signing of the Share Purchase Agreement, when we sold a 29 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding for $125 million. The second closing, for the sale of a 51 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding for a cash purchase price of $275 million, will be subject to, among other things, approval by the holders of a majority of our common stock and approval by the Ministerio del Poder Popular de Petroleo y Mineria representing the Government of Venezuela (which indirectly owns the other 60 percent interest in Petrodelta). We used a portion of the $125 million in proceeds from the sale of the 29 percent interest in Harvest Holding that we received on December 16, 2013, to redeem all of our 11% Senior Notes due 2014. The notes were redeemed on January 11, 2014, for $80.0 million, including principal and accrued and unpaid interest. The remaining $45.0 million of the proceeds from the sale of the 29 percent interest in Harvest Holding have been or will be used to pay costs associated with the sale of our Venezuelan interests, to pay severance costs, to make capital expenditures, to pay taxes related to the sale and for general operating expenses. Those remaining proceeds will also be used to repurchase certain outstanding warrants if our stockholders approve the sale of our remaining Venezuelan interests, and if a “Fundamental Change” is consummated under the terms of those warrants. We are currently marketing our non-Venezuelan assets and talking to potential buyers, and we intend to continue our consideration of a possible sale for some or all of our non-Venezuelan assets if we are able to negotiate a sale or sales in transactions that our Board of Directors believes are in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders. In the meantime, we intend to operate our business in the ordinary course and may ultimately decide to keep our non-Venezuelan assets and acquire additional assets. If the proposed sale of our remaining Venezuelan interests is completed and/or the sale of other non-Venezuelan assets are completed, a significant portion of our assets will be cash from the proceeds of such transactions. However, the timing of the sale of our remaining 51 percent interest in Harvest Holding or sales of other assets is beyond our control and we will continue to have operating and capital requirements until these sales are completed. Depending on the timing of these events, we anticipate using a portion of the proceeds from the sale of 51 percent interest in Harvest Holding to pay for expenses and other costs related to the transaction, which we estimate will be approximately $4 million; to pay taxes related to the transaction, which we estimate will be approximately $51.1 million. In addition, if we do not sell our non-Venezuelan assets before the sale of the 51 percent interest in Harvest Holding, then we estimate that we will need to retain a portion of the proceeds to fund projected general operating expenses and capital expenditures. Some of these costs will be paid from funds remaining from the proceeds of the initial sale of the 29 percent interest in Harvest Holding. If we sell our non-Venezuelan assets before the sale of the remaining 51 percent interest in Harvest Holding, then our requirements for projected general operating expenses and capital expenditures would be reduced. We will also use these funds to pay any severance or other costs during 2014 associated with the possible severance of some of our personnel in connection with a downsizing of the Company both related to the sale of our Venezuelan interests and related to any sale of our non-Venezuelan assets, if our Board of Directors determines that a downsizing would be in our best interests. We estimate these costs to be approximately $20 million. Although we are currently marketing our non-Venezuelan assets and talking to potential buyers, we intend to operate our business in the ordinary course and may ultimately decide to keep our non-Venezuelan assets and acquire additional assets. Since we no longer have any obligations under the 11% Senior Notes due 2014, and given that we do not currently have any operating cash inflows, we may also decide to access additional capital through equity or debt sales; however, there can be no assurance that such financing will be available to the Company or on terms that are acceptable to the Company.

Note 2 – Liquidity

Historically, our primary ongoing source of cash has been dividends from Petrodelta and the sale of oil and gas properties. Our primary use of cash has been to fund oil and gas exploration projects, principal payments on debt, interest, and general and administrative costs. We require capital principally to fund the exploration and development of new oil and gas properties. As is common in the oil and gas industry, we have various contractual commitments pertaining to exploration, development and production activities. See Note 8 – Gabon, Note 9 – Indonesia and Note 5 – Dispositions, Discontinued Operations for our contractual commitments.

The environments in which we operate are often difficult and the ability to operate successfully depends on a number of factors including our ability to control the pace of development, our ability to apply “best practices” in drilling and development, and the fostering of productive and transparent relationships with local partners, the local community and governmental authorities. Financial risks include our ability to control costs and attract financing for our projects. In addition, often the legal systems of certain countries are not mature, and their reliability can be uncertain. This may affect our ability to enforce contracts and achieve certainty in our rights to develop and operate oil and natural gas projects, as well as our ability to obtain adequate compensation for any resulting losses. Our strategy depends on our ability to have significant influence over operations and financial control.

Our operations are subject to various risks inherent in foreign operations. These risks may include, among other things, loss of revenue, property and equipment as a result of hazards such as expropriation, nationalization, war, insurrection, civil unrest, strikes and other political risks, increases in taxes and governmental royalties, being subject to foreign laws, legal systems and the exclusive jurisdiction of foreign courts or tribunals, renegotiation of contracts with governmental entities, changes in laws and policies, including taxes, governing operations of foreign-based companies, currency restrictions and exchange rate fluctuations and other uncertainties arising out of foreign government sovereignty over our international operations. Our international operations may also be adversely affected by the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-corruption laws, laws and policies of the United States affecting foreign policy, foreign trade, taxation and the possible inability to subject foreign persons to the jurisdiction of the courts in the United States.

As a result of the situation in Venezuela, the actions of the Venezuelan government which have and continue to adversely affect our operations and the expectation that dividends from Petrodelta will be minimal over the next few years, cash generated from operations has been limited and this has had a significant adverse effect on our ability to obtain financing to acquire and develop growth opportunities elsewhere. In the consolidated financial statements issued in the prior year, we discussed certain doubts about our ability to continue as a going concern. At the time of issuance, we expected that in 2013 we would not generate revenues, we would continue to generate losses from operations, and that our cash flows would not be sufficient to cover our operating expenses. While we believed that we would be able to raise additional capital through issuances of debt and/or equity or through sales of assets, our circumstances at such time raised substantial doubt about our ability to continue to operate as a going concern, and this was disclosed in the notes to the consolidated financial statements.

As discussed above under Share Purchase Agreement, on December 16, 2013, Harvest and HNR Energia entered into the Share Purchase Agreement with Petroandina and Pluspetrol, its parent, to sell all of our 80 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding to Petroandina in two closings for an aggregate cash purchase price of $400 million. The first closing occurred on December 16, 2013 contemporaneously with the signing of the Share Purchase Agreement, when we sold a 29 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding for $125 million. Proceeds from the December 2013 sale of the 29 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding are expected to be adequate to meet our short-term liquidity requirements. As discussed above and in Note 5 – Dispositions, Share Purchase Agreement below, on December 16, 2013, Harvest and HNR Energia entered into the Share Purchase Agreement with Petroandina and Pluspetrol to sell all of our 80 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding to Petroandina in two closings for an aggregate cash purchase price of $400 million. The first closing occurred on December 16, 2013 contemporaneously with the signing of the Share Purchase Agreement, when we sold a 29 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding for $125 million. The second closing, for the sale of a 51 percent equity interest in Harvest Holding for a cash purchase price of $275 million, will be subject to, among other things, approval by the holders of a majority of our common stock and approval by the Ministerio del Poder Popular de Petroleo y Mineria representing the Government of Venezuela (which indirectly owns the other 60 percent interest in Petrodelta).

We used a portion of the $125 million in proceeds from the sale of the 29 percent interest in Harvest Holding that we received on December 16, 2013, to redeem all of our 11% Senior Notes due 2014. The notes were redeemed on January 11, 2014, for $80.0 million, including principal and accrued and unpaid interest. The remaining $45.0 million of the proceeds from the sale of the 29 percent interest in Harvest Holding have been or will be used to pay costs associated with the sale of our Venezuelan interests, to pay severance costs, to make capital expenditures, to pay taxes related to the sale and for general operating expenses. Those remaining proceeds will also be used to repurchase certain outstanding warrants if our stockholders approve the sale of our remaining Venezuelan interests, and if a “Fundamental Change” is consummated under the terms of those warrants.

We are currently marketing our non-Venezuelan assets and talking to potential buyers, and we intend to continue our consideration of a possible sale for some or all of our non-Venezuelan assets if we are able to negotiate a sale or sales in transactions that our Board of Directors believes are in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders. In the meantime, we intend to operate our business in the ordinary course and may ultimately decide to keep our non-Venezuelan assets and acquire additional assets.

If the proposed sale of our remaining Venezuelan interests is completed and/or the sale of other non-Venezuelan assets are completed, a significant portion of our assets will be cash from the proceeds of such transactions. However, the timing of the sale of our remaining 51 percent interest in Harvest Holding or sales of other assets is beyond our control and we will continue to have operating and capital requirements until these sales are completed. Depending on the timing of these events, we anticipate using a portion of the proceeds from the sale of 51 percent interest in Harvest Holding to pay for expenses and other costs related to the transaction, which we estimate will be approximately $4 million; to pay taxes related to the transaction, which we estimate will be approximately $51.1 million. In addition, if we do not sell our non-Venezuelan assets before the sale of the 51 percent interest in Harvest Holding, then we estimate that we will need to retain a portion of the proceeds to fund projected general operating expenses and capital expenditures. Some of these costs will be paid from funds remaining from the proceeds of the initial sale of the 29 percent interest in Harvest Holding. If we sell our non-Venezuelan assets before the sale of the remaining 51 percent interest in Harvest Holding, then our requirements for projected general operating expenses and capital expenditures would be reduced. We will also use these funds to pay any severance or other costs during 2014 associated with the possible severance of some of our personnel in connection with a downsizing of the Company both related to the sale of our Venezuelan interests and related to any sale of our non-Venezuelan assets, if our Board of Directors determines that a downsizing would be in our best interests. We estimate these costs to be approximately $20 million.

Although we are currently marketing our non-Venezuelan assets and talking to potential buyers, we intend to operate our business in the ordinary course and may ultimately decide to keep our non-Venezuelan assets and acquire additional assets. Since we no longer have any obligations under the 11% Senior Notes due 2014, and given that we do not currently have any operating cash inflows, we may also decide to access additional capital through equity or debt sales; however, there can be no assurance that such financing will be available to the Company or on terms that are acceptable to the Company.