Acquisitions and Divestitures - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) Share data in Millions, unless otherwise specified	1 Months Ended		2 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		2 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		2 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	2 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2010	Jan. 31, 2010	Apr. 30, 2010	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010	Apr. 30, 2010 Penn Virginia GP Holdings, L.P. Limited Partner	Jun. 30, 2010 Penn Virginia GP Holdings, L.P. General Partner	Sep. 30, 2011 Eagle Ford Shale acre	Aug. 31, 2011 Arkoma Divestiture Restructuring	Jun. 30, 2011 Arkoma Divestiture Restructuring	Jul. 31, 2011 Arkoma Divestiture Restructuring acre cf	Apr. 30, 2010 Noncontrolling Interests in Discontinued Operations	Sep. 30, 2010 Noncontrolling Interests in Discontinued Operations	Apr. 30, 2010 Additional Paid-in Capital
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acres of land acquired in Gonzales County, Texas								7,300
Cost of acquired land								$ 27,000,000
Current working interest in the acquired acreage								81.00%
Sale of common units						11.25
Our reduced limited partner interest in PVG after the sale of units						22.60%
Proceeds from the sale of PVG units, net			199,125,000		199,125,000
Sale of PVG units, net of tax					152,290,000							70,188,000	70,188,000	82,102,000
Proceeds from the sale of remaining PVG units, net	139,120,000				139,120,000
Gain on sale of discontinued operations, net of tax	49,612,000				49,612,000
Gain on sale of discontinued operations, income tax effects	35,100,000
Percent of PVG general partner interests relinquished							100.00%
Value of property interests being sold									30,000,000
Impairment of property										71,000,000
Number of net acres sold											73,000
Proved reserves of natural gas equivalent sold											35,800,000,000
Proceeds from the sale of oil and gas property, net		23,200,000		31,077,000	25,172,000
Exchange of oil gas and properties		$ 8,200,000