Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	9 Months Ended
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	Sep. 30, 2015
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Interim Financial Statements, Basis of Presentation, Consolidation and Significant Estimates	Interim Financial Statements, Basis of Presentation, Consolidation and Significant Estimates The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Matador and its subsidiaries have been prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) but do not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for complete financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 filed with the SEC (the “Annual Report”). The Company consolidates certain subsidiaries that are less-than-wholly-owned and the net income and equity attributable to the non-controlling interest in these subsidiaries have been reported separately as required by Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 810. The Company proportionately consolidates certain joint ventures that are less-than-wholly-owned and are involved in oil and natural gas exploration. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. In management’s opinion, these interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include all adjustments, consisting only of normal, recurring adjustments which are necessary for a fair presentation of the Company’s consolidated financial statements as of September 30, 2015. Amounts as of December 31, 2014 are derived from the audited consolidated financial statements in the Annual Report. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. These estimates and assumptions may also affect disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. The Company’s interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements are based on a number of significant estimates, including accruals for oil and natural gas revenues, accrued assets and liabilities primarily related to oil and natural gas operations, stock-based compensation, valuation of derivative instruments and oil and natural gas reserves. The estimates of oil and natural gas reserves quantities and future net cash flows are the basis for the calculations of depletion and impairment of oil and natural gas properties, as well as estimates of asset retirement obligations and certain tax accruals. While the Company believes its estimates are reasonable, changes in facts and assumptions or the discovery of new information may result in revised estimates. Actual results could differ from these estimates.
Reclassifications	Reclassifications Certain reclassifications have been made to the 2014 financial statements in order to conform to the current year presentation. These reclassifications had no effect on previously reported results of operations, cash flows or retained earnings.
Change in Accounting Principle	Change in Accounting Principle The Company adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2015-03, Interest - Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 935-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs, effective June 30, 2015. This standard requires companies that have historically presented debt issuance costs as an asset to present those costs as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of the underlying debt liability. To the extent that there are no borrowings under the Credit Agreement (as defined below), the related deferred loan costs will continue to be classified as an asset. The guidance required retrospective application in the financial statements. As such, the Company reclassified $1.8 million at December 31, 2014 related to deferred loan costs for the Credit Agreement which had previously been presented in Prepaid Expenses and Other Assets. As the Company had no borrowings outstanding under the Credit Agreement at September 30, 2015, approximately $1.1 million of deferred loan costs related to the Credit Agreement are included in Prepaid Expenses and Other Assets. The Company’s senior unsecured notes are presented net of approximately $9.0 million of deferred loan costs at September 30, 2015. The Company had no senior unsecured notes outstanding at December 31, 2014.
Restricted Cash	Restricted Cash Restricted cash represents the cash held by our less-than-wholly-owned subsidiaries. By contractual agreement, the cash in these accounts is not to be commingled with other Company cash and is to be used only to fund the capital expenditures and operations of these less-than-wholly-owned subsidiaries.
Property and Equipment	Property and Equipment The Company uses the full-cost method of accounting for its investments in oil and natural gas properties. Under this method of accounting, all costs associated with the acquisition, exploration and development of oil and natural gas properties and reserves, including unproved and unevaluated property costs, are capitalized as incurred and accumulated in a single cost center representing the Company’s activities, which are undertaken exclusively in the United States. Such costs include lease acquisition costs, geological and geophysical expenditures, lease rentals on undeveloped properties, costs of drilling both productive and non-productive wells, capitalized interest on qualifying projects and certain general and administrative expenses directly related to acquisition, exploration and development activities, but do not include any costs related to production, selling or general corporate administrative activities. The Company capitalized approximately $1.4 million and $1.5 million of its general and administrative costs for the three months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and approximately $0.5 million and $0.8 million of its interest expense for the three months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively. The Company capitalized approximately $4.9 million and $4.3 million of its general and administrative costs for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and approximately $2.9 million and $2.2 million of its interest expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively. The net capitalized costs of oil and natural gas properties are limited to the lower of unamortized costs less related deferred income taxes or the cost center “ceiling.” The cost center ceiling is defined as the sum of: (a) the present value, discounted at 10%, of future net revenues of proved oil and natural gas reserves, reduced by the estimated costs of developing these reserves, plus (b) unproved and unevaluated property costs not being amortized, plus (c) the lower of cost or estimated fair value of unproved and unevaluated properties included in the costs being amortized, if any, less (d) income tax effects related to the properties involved. Any excess of the Company’s net capitalized costs above the cost center ceiling as described above is charged to operations as a full-cost ceiling impairment. The need for a full-cost ceiling impairment is required to be assessed on a quarterly basis. The fair value of the Company’s derivative instruments is not included in the ceiling test computation as the Company does not designate these instruments as hedge instruments for accounting purposes. The estimated present value of after-tax future net cash flows from proved oil and natural gas reserves is highly dependent upon the quantities of proved reserves, the estimation of which requires substantial judgment. The associated commodity prices and applicable discount rate used in these estimates are in accordance with guidelines established by the SEC. Under these guidelines, oil and natural gas reserves are estimated using then-current operating and economic conditions, with no provision for price and cost escalations in future periods except by contractual arrangements. Future net revenues are calculated using prices that represent the arithmetic averages of first-day-of-the-month oil and natural gas prices for the previous 12-month period, and the guidelines further dictate that a 10% discount factor be used to determine the present value of future net revenues. For the period from October 2014 through September 2015, these average oil and natural gas prices were $55.73 per barrel (“Bbl”) and $3.06 per million British thermal units (“MMBtu”), respectively. For the period from October 2013 through September 2014, these average oil and natural gas prices were $95.56 per Bbl and $4.24 per MMBtu, respectively. In estimating the present value of after-tax future net cash flows from proved oil and natural gas reserves, the average oil prices were adjusted by property for quality, transportation and marketing fees and regional price differentials, and the average natural gas prices were adjusted by property for energy content, transportation and marketing fees and regional price differentials. At September 30, 2015 and 2014, the Company’s oil and natural gas reserves estimates were prepared by the Company’s engineering staff in accordance with guidelines established by the SEC and then audited for their reasonableness and conformance with SEC guidelines by Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc., independent reservoir engineers. Using the average commodity prices, as adjusted, to determine the Company’s estimated proved oil and natural gas reserves at September 30, 2015, the Company’s net capitalized costs less related deferred income taxes exceeded the full-cost ceiling by $252.4 million. As a result, the Company recorded an impairment charge of $285.7 million to its net capitalized costs and a deferred income tax credit of $33.3 million related to the full-cost ceiling limitation at September 30, 2015. At June 30, 2015, the Company’s net capitalized costs less related deferred income taxes exceeded the full-cost ceiling by $146.3 million and thus the Company recorded an impairment charge of $229.0 million to its net capitalized costs and a deferred income tax credit of $82.7 million related to the full-cost ceiling limitation at June 30, 2015. At March 31, 2015, the Company’s net capitalized costs less related deferred income taxes exceeded the full-cost ceiling by $42.8 million and thus the Company recorded an impairment charge of $67.1 million to its net capitalized costs and a deferred income tax credit of $24.3 million related to the full-cost ceiling limitation at March 31, 2015. These three quarterly impairment charges are reflected in the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated statement of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2015. At September 30, 2014, the Company’s net capitalized costs less related deferred income taxes did not exceed the full-cost ceiling and thus the Company recorded no impairment to its net capitalized costs for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014. As a non-cash item, the full-cost ceiling impairment impacts the accumulated depletion and the net carrying value of the Company’s assets on its consolidated balance sheet, as well as the corresponding consolidated shareholders’ equity, but it has no impact on the Company’s consolidated net cash flows as reported. Changes in oil and natural gas production rates, oil and natural gas prices, reserves estimates, future development costs and other factors will determine the Company’s actual ceiling test computation and impairment analyses in future periods. Capitalized costs of oil and natural gas properties are amortized using the unit-of-production method based upon production and estimates of proved reserves quantities. Unproved and unevaluated property costs are excluded from the amortization base used to determine depletion. Unproved and unevaluated properties are assessed for possible impairment on a periodic basis based upon changes in operating or economic conditions. This assessment includes consideration of the following factors, among others: the assignment of proved reserves, geological and geophysical evaluations, intent to drill, remaining lease term and drilling activity and results. Upon impairment, the costs of the unproved and unevaluated properties are immediately included in the amortization base. Exploratory dry holes are included in the amortization base immediately upon determination that the well is not productive.
Assets Held for Sale	Assets Held for Sale On the date at which assets of the Company meet all the criteria required to be classified as held for sale, the Company discontinues the recording of depletion and depreciation of the assets or asset group to be sold and reclassifies the assets and related liabilities to be sold as held for sale on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. The assets and liabilities are measured at the lower of their carrying amount or estimated fair value less cost to sell.
Allocation of Purchase Price in Business Combinations	Allocation of Purchase Price in Business Combinations As part of the Company’s business strategy, it periodically pursues the acquisition of oil and natural gas properties. The purchase price in a business combination is allocated to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their fair values as of the acquisition date, which may occur many months after the announcement date. Therefore, while the consideration to be paid may be fixed, the fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed is subject to change during the period between the announcement date and the acquisition date. The most significant estimates in the allocation typically relate to the value assigned to proved oil and natural gas reserves and unproved and unevaluated properties. As the allocation of the purchase price is subject to significant estimates and subjective judgments, the accuracy of this assessment is inherently uncertain.
Earnings (Loss) Per Common Share	Earnings (Loss) Per Common Share The Company reports basic earnings (loss) per common share, which excludes the effect of potentially dilutive securities, and diluted earnings per common share, which includes the effect of all potentially dilutive securities, unless their impact is anti-dilutive.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements	Recent Accounting Pronouncements Revenue from Contracts with Customers. In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which specifies how and when to recognize revenue. In addition, this standard requires expanded disclosures surrounding revenue recognition and is intended to improve, and converge with international standards, the financial reporting requirements for revenue from contracts with customers. ASU 2014-09 will become effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, i.e., in the Company’s first fiscal quarter of 2018. The Company is currently evaluating the impact, if any, of the adoption of this ASU on its consolidated financial statements.