ORGANIZATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended					1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended					1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2013 item	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2013 AGR Lawsuit	Oct. 31, 2012 AGR Peak Well Management Ltd AGR Lawsuit	Sep. 30, 2013 AGR Peak Well Management Ltd AGR Lawsuit	Dec. 31, 2012 SCS	Jun. 30, 2013 Dana	Sep. 30, 2013 Tullow Guinea Ltd	Sep. 30, 2013 Guinea concession	Dec. 30, 2012 Guinea concession	Feb. 29, 2012 Sabu-1 well m item
Nature of business
Number of wholly-owned subsidiaries		3
Status of our Business
Other commitments		$ 0
Allowance for doubtful accounts		0		0
Cash		23,138,000	33,131,000	26,468,000	37,148,000
Available-for-sale securities		15,189,000		15,383,000
Restricted cash held in escrow in connection with our drilling contract with AGR		19,192,000		19,190,000
Liabilities		22,653,000		22,694,000
Current liabilities		22,573,000		22,602,000		20,200,000
Noncurrent liabilities		80,000		92,000
Ownership interest sold (as a percent)									40.00%
Threshold gross expenditure cap for well to be paid by the entity	100,000,000
Estimated total cost of well	115,000,000
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
Gross expenditure for an exploration well to be paid by Tullow as additional consideration									$ 100,000,000
Earnings per Share
Common shares that can be purchased upon exercise of options		1,300,000	1,400,000
Average exercise price of common stock (in dollars per share)		$ 12.90	$ 15.92
Warrants that can be purchased		400,000	1,700,000
Average exercise price of warrants (in dollars per share)		$ 10.40	$ 23.52
Common shares that can be purchased using the treasury stock method, had there been net income		100,000	100,000
Common shares that can be purchased using the treasury stock method, had there been net income		0	0