Employment Benefit Plan - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2007	Dec. 31, 2007 Minimum	Dec. 31, 2007 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 2009 plan	May 20, 2011 2009 plan	Dec. 31, 2012 2009 plan All Employee Y	Dec. 31, 2012 2009 plan Non - Employee Directors Y	Dec. 31, 2012 Restricted Stock Grants Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Restricted Stock Grants Maximum
Employee Benefit And Retirement Plans [Line Items]
Liability of vested benefits recorded in other long term liabilities	$ 1,059
Expenses related to incentive compensation bonus	8,113	11,600	5,888
Additional number of common stock to be issued under incentive stock options								2,800,000
Vesting period of stock options									5 years	3 years	1 year	3 years
Period after which stock option will expire subsequent to award									10	10
Additional shares available for issuance							2,684,466
Percentage of vesting of an employee in matching contributions for each year of service	20.00%
Number of years required for vesting of contribution	5 years
Amount of contribution by the company to Stone Energy 401 (k) Profit Sharing Plan	1,759	1,435	1,301
Maximum Percentage of Deferred Compensation plan	100.00%
Plan assets included in other assets	7,498	6,410
Number of times of severance payments relating to annual pay and any target bonus at one hundred percent level	2.99
Percentage of excise tax rate under Section 4999 of the Internal revenue code	20.00%
Percentage of employer matching contribution under 401(k) plan	50.00%
Amount of one week's pay of each full of annual pay under Employee severance Plan				$ 10,000
Maximum period of sum of payments and benefits under employee severance plan					84 days	12 months
Period of involuntary termination of employment				6 months