Consolidated Statements Of Operations (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009
Consolidated Statements Of Operations [Abstract]
Revenues	$ 17,085	$ 13,216	$ 9,731
Cost and expenses
Production costs and taxes	6,204	6,020	5,315
Depreciation, depletion, and amortization	2,703	2,627	2,571
General and administrative	2,324	2,294	2,085
Impairment		4,957
Total cost and expenses	11,231	15,898	9,971
Net income (loss) from operations	5,854	(2,682)	(240)
Other income (expense)
Interest expense	(642)	(659)	(634)
Gain (loss) on derivatives	(407)	492	(1,313)
Gain (loss) on sale of assets	37	15
Total other income (expense)	(1,012)	(152)	(1,947)
Income (loss) before income tax	4,842	(2,834)	(2,187)
Deferred income tax benefit (expense)	(118)	1,089	169
Current income tax benefit (expense)	(44)
Net income (loss)	$ 4,680	$ (1,745)	$ (2,018)
Net income (loss) per share
Basic	$ 0.08	$ (0.03)	$ (0.03)
Fully diluted	$ 0.08	$ (0.03)	$ (0.03)
Shares used in computing earnings per share
Basic	60,701,660	60,415,859	59,408,990
Diluted	61,088,983	60,415,859	59,408,990