Commitments and Contingencies (Details)	1 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2010 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2010 CAD item acre	Feb. 28, 2009	Mar. 31, 2010 CAD acre	Sep. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 USD ($)	Mar. 23, 2012 mi MMcf	Nov. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Aug. 24, 2011 USD ($)	Jul. 12, 2011 USD ($)	Jun. 02, 2011 USD ($)	Mar. 11, 2011 item	Feb. 28, 2009 Seventh Amended Petition [Member] USD ($)	Feb. 28, 2009 Sixth Amended Petition [Member] USD ($)
Unrecorded capital investments obligation, Exploration program acres coverage (acres)		2,500,000		2,500,000
Unrecorded capital investments obligation		47,000,000		47,000,000
Period licenses require capital investments be made, years				3 years
Unrecorded promissory note payable		44,500,000		44,500,000
Length of pipeline proposal, miles							121
Duration of firm transportation agreement, years							15 years
SES transportation agreement, capacity per day in MMcf							150
Obligation under transportation agreements					1,300,000,000
Guarantee obligations relative to the firms transportation agreements and gathering project and services					100,000,000
Litigation, Allegations			plaintiff alleged that, in 2005, they provided SEPCO with proprietary data regarding two prospects in the James Lime formation pursuant to a confidentiality agreement and that SEPCO refused to return the proprietary data to the plaintiff, subsequently acquired leases based upon such proprietary data and profited therefrom.  Among other things, the plaintiff's allegations in the Sixth Petition included various statutory and common law claims, including, but not limited to claims of misappropriation of trade secrets, violation of the Texas Theft Liability Act, breach of fiduciary duty and confidential relationships, various fraud based claims and breach of contract, including a claim of breach of a purported right of first refusal on all interests acquired by SEPCO between February 15, 2005 and February 15, 2006.
Litigation, Monetary damages claimed by plaintiffs													46,000,000	55,000,000
Litigation settlement, gross	11,400,000
Litigation, Interest and Attorney's Fees claimed by plaintiffs									8,900,000		11,400,000
Litigation, portion of profits considered for disgorgement						381,500,000
Disgorgement damages awarded in favor of the plantiff and intervenor										23,900,000
Percentage of attorney fees recoverable by plantiff											40
Number of wells for constructive trust profits												143
Number of horizontal wells operated by SEECO in Arkansas		27
Value of SEPCO's supersedeas bond								14,100,000
Pre-judgement interest covered by SEPCO's supersedeas bond								1,300,000
Post-judgement interest covered by SEPCO's supersedeas bond								1,300,000
Litigation, SEPCO's estimated gross liability including interest and attorney's fees.					$ 44,200,000