ORGANIZATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended					1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended
	Jul. 02, 2013	Jun. 30, 2013 item	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2011	Feb. 02, 2012	Nov. 30, 2010	Jun. 30, 2010	Jun. 30, 2013 AGR Lawsuit	Jun. 30, 2013 Minimum	Jun. 30, 2011 Minimum	Jun. 30, 2013 Maximum	Jun. 30, 2011 Maximum	Oct. 31, 2012 AGR Peak Well Management Ltd AGR Lawsuit	Jun. 30, 2013 AGR Peak Well Management Ltd AGR Lawsuit	Dec. 31, 2012 SCS	Dec. 31, 2012 SCS Minimum m	Jun. 30, 2013 Dana	Jun. 30, 2013 Tullow Guinea Ltd	Nov. 21, 2012 Tullow Guinea Ltd	Dec. 31, 2012 Guinea concession	Jun. 30, 2013 Guinea concession	Dec. 30, 2012 Guinea concession	Jun. 30, 2013 Guinea concession 3D Seismic Contract with Veritas sqkm	Feb. 29, 2012 Sabu-1 well m item
Nature of business
Number of wholly-owned subsidiaries		3
Status of our Business
Ownership interest sold (as a percent)															40.00%
Consideration of sale of interest in PSC															$ 27,000,000
Depth of exploration well to be drilled																2,000
Gross expenditure for an exploration well to be paid by Tullow as additional consideration															100,000,000
Gross expenditure for an appraisal well to be paid by Tullow as additional consideration															100,000,000
Percentage of participating interest share of costs associated with the concession obligated to be paid																			40.00%
Period through which additional consideration is to be paid by Tullow															90 days
Transaction costs		3,312,000													3,300,000
Area of 3D seismic survey acquired																							4,000
Expected total cost for acquiring the survey, processing and other services																				27,700,000
Gross remaining costs to be paid for the most recent 3D seismic survey based on current ownership interest																				500,000
Net remaining costs to be paid for the most recent 3D seismic survey based on current ownership interest																				200,000
Ownership interest (as a percent)																	23.00%	40.00%			37.00%	77.00%
Number of exploratory wells drilled																								1
Planned total depth of drilled well reached																								3,600
Additional amount seeks on a gross basis													9,500,000	9,500,000
Share of entity in additional amount seeks on a gross basis													7,300,000	7,300,000
Cash		26,468,000	37,148,000	79,889,000			26,040,000
Available-for-sale securities		15,383,000
Restricted cash held in escrow in connection with our drilling contract with AGR		19,190,000	19,180,000
Liabilities		22,694,000	26,729,000
Current liabilities		22,602,000	26,604,000					20,200,000
Noncurrent liabilities		92,000	125,000
Reverse stock split	0.125
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.001	$ 0.001	$ 0.001
Other commitments		0
Allowance for doubtful accounts		0	0
Oil and Gas Properties
Gain or loss recorded for oil and natural gas properties		0
Average period over which oil and natural gas price is based to derive future net revenue		12 months
Discount percentage		10.00%
Amortization of proved oil and gas properties subject to the full-cost ceiling test		400,000	116,300,000	0
Property, Plant and Equipment, Other than Oil and Gas
Estimated useful lives of the assets									3 years		5 years
Deferred Rent
Number of renewal option period		1
Period of reversal of deferred rent		12 months
Amortized deferred rent						140,000
Income Taxes
Percentage of likelihood of realization that the tax position must exceed in order for the amount to be recognized in the financial statements									50.00%
Unrecognized tax benefits		5,485,000	5,485,000	5,485,000			5,485,000
Earnings per Share
Reverse stock split	0.125
Common shares that can be purchased upon exercise of options		1,400,000	1,600,000	1,200,000
Average exercise price of common stock (in dollars per share)		$ 13.12	$ 16.72	$ 14.80
Warrants that can be purchased		400,000	1,700,000	500,000	1,250,000
Average exercise price of warrants (in dollars per share)		$ 10.40	$ 23.52	$ 10.08	$ 28.00					$ 7.84		$ 12.64
Common shares that can be purchased using the treasury stock method, had there been net income		40,000	400,000	500,000
Common shares that can be purchased using the treasury stock method, had there been net income		0	200,000	300,000
Gross Value
Accumulated other comprehensive loss at the beginning of the period	94,000		349,000
Change in fair value of available-for-sale securities		94,000	123,000
Reclassification of other than temporary impairment of securities included in net income, gross			(472,000)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss at the end of the period		94,000		349,000
Net of Tax Value
Accumulated other comprehensive loss at the beginning of the period	94,000		349,000
Change in fair value of available-for-sale securities		94,000	123,000
Reclassification of other than temporary impairment of securities included in net income, net			(472,000)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss at the end of the period		94,000		349,000
Total comprehensive loss		$ 18,555,000	$ 148,964,000	$ 11,587,000