Long-Term Debt (Details) (USD $)			1 Months Ended					9 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Oct. 31, 2013 7.75% Senior Notes due 2019	Apr. 30, 2011 7.75% Senior Notes due 2019	Mar. 31, 2011 7.75% Senior Notes due 2019	Sep. 30, 2014 7.75% Senior Notes due 2019	Dec. 31, 2013 7.75% Senior Notes due 2019	Sep. 30, 2014 7.75% Senior Notes due 2019 Beginning on April 1, 2015	Sep. 30, 2014 7.75% Senior Notes due 2019 Beginning on April 1, 2016	Sep. 30, 2014 7.75% Senior Notes due 2019 On or after April 1, 2017	Apr. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 Bank	Sep. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 Quarter		Dec. 31, 2013 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019	Sep. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 Minimum	Sep. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 Maximum	Sep. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 LIBOR	Sep. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 LIBOR Minimum	Sep. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 LIBOR Maximum	Sep. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 Prime rate	Sep. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 Federal funds rate	Sep. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 Base rate Minimum	Sep. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 Base rate Maximum	Sep. 30, 2014 Revolving credit facility, due April 2019 One-month LIBOR	Sep. 30, 2014 Letters of credit
Long-Term Debt
Long-term debt	$ 631,682,000	$ 639,638,000				$ 599,682,000	$ 599,638,000					$ 32,000,000	[1]	$ 40,000,000
Aggregate principal amount of notes issued			250,000,000	50,000,000	300,000,000
Interest rate (as a percent)					7.75%	7.75%	7.75%
Original issue discount (as a percent)				1.00%
Unamortized original issue discount				500,000		318,000	362,000
Redemption price of debt instrument (as a percent)								103.875%	101.938%	100.00%
Number of banks syndicated to provide for line of credit											16
Maximum borrowing capacity											1,000,000,000
Initial borrowing base												415,000,000
Outstanding letters of credit																									5,900,000
Amount available under the revolving credit facility												$ 377,100,000
Percentage of adjusted engineered value of oil and gas interests serving as collateral															80.00%
Variable rate basis																	LIBOR			prime rate	federal funds rate			one-month LIBOR
Applicable margin (as a percent)																		1.50%	2.50%		0.50%	0.50%	1.50%	1.00%
Commitment fee on unused portion (as a percent)															0.375%	0.50%
Effective annual interest rate (as a percent)												2.30%
Current ratio															1
Number of consecutive quarters for which ratio of consolidated funded indebtedness to consolidated EBITDAX is required to be maintained												4
Consolidated funded indebtedness to consolidated EBITDAX ratio																4

[1] Renewed and extended in April 2014.