Acquisitions and Divestitures (Details Textuals) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	10 Months Ended	12 Months Ended											1 Months Ended				3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended				3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended					1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Mar. 31, 2010 Rate	Mar. 08, 2010	Dec. 31, 2010 Accrued Employee Compensation Costs Encore [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 ENP GP Investment [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 8.25% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2020 [Member]	Feb. 28, 2010 8.25% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2020 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Bank Credit Agreement [Member]	Mar. 31, 2010 Bank Credit Agreement [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Encore Energy Partners LP [Member]	Mar. 31, 2010 Genesis Lp Unit [Member]	Mar. 31, 2010 Genesis Energy LLC [Member]	Feb. 28, 2010 Genesis Gp [Member]	Mar. 31, 2010 Genesis Gp [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Vanguard Natural Resources [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Haynesville and East Texas Natural Gas Properties [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Encore Acquisition [Member]	Mar. 31, 2010 Encore Acquisition [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Encore Acquisition [Member] Third party legal and accounting fees [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Encore Acquisition [Member] Third party legal and accounting fees [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Encore Acquisition [Member] Employee related severance and termination costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Encore Acquisition [Member] Employee related severance and termination costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Bakken Exchange Transaction [Member]	Dec. 21, 2012 Bakken Exchange Transaction [Member]	Nov. 30, 2012 Bakken Exchange Transaction [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Webster Field [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Thompson Field [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Thompson Field [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Riley Ridge Phase 2 [Member]	Aug. 01, 2011 Riley Ridge Phase 2 [Member]	Oct. 31, 2010 Riley Ridge Phase 1 [Member]	Apr. 30, 2012 Paradox Basin [Member]	Feb. 29, 2012 Non Core Gulf Coast Assets [Member]	Feb. 29, 2012 Non Core Gulf Coast Assets [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Cleveland Sand Play Properties [Member]	May 31, 2010 Southern Properties [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Shannon Sandstone [Member] Hartzog Draw Field [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Big George Coal Zone [Member] Hartzog Draw Field [Member]
Acquisitions and Divestitures (Textuals) [Abstract]
Business Acquisition, Purchase Price Allocation, Current Assets, Cash and Cash Equivalents																											$ 1,331,684,000
Working Interest Acquired In Purchase Of Oil And Natural Gas Properties																														nearly 100%	nearly 100%
Revenue Interest Acquired In Purchase Of Oil And Gas Properties																														nearly 80%
Working Interest In Business Acquisition																																		57.50%	42.50%						83.00%	67.00%
Revenue Interest In Business Acquisition																															84.70%										71.00%	53.00%
Overriding Royalty Interest In CO2 Reserves In LaBarge Field																											approximately a one-third
Percentage Of Assets Transferred At First Closing																													82.50%
Percentage Of Assets Transferred At Second Closing																												17.50%
Net Revenue Interest Retained By Seller																															5.00%
Oil Production Threshold Barrels Per Day																															3,000
Business Acquisition Purchase Price Allocation Assets Acquired Less Liabilities Assumed																																318,907,000
Business Acquisition, Purchase Price Allocation, Assets Acquired (Liabilities Assumed), Net																											1,903,280,000
Business Acquisition, Purchase Price Allocation, Goodwill Amount																																47,272,000	3,900,000
Business Acquisition, Cost of Acquired Entity, Purchase Price																																	214,779,000		132,300,000
Ownership interest in Riley Ridge plant																																		57.50%	42.50%
Deferred Riley Ridge acquisition consideration																																	15,000,000
Aggregate purchase price																						4,800,000,000
Common stock issued to Encore stockholders					135,200,000
Cash payment	833,900,000	833,900,000			833,900,000																											366,179,000	199,779,000
Denbury shares issued in Encore merger as a percentage of outstanding Denbury shares						34.00%
Total fair value of common stock issued						2,100,000,000
Closing price per share of Denbury stock							$ 15.43
Face value of senior subordinated notes											1,000,000,000
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage										8.25%
Borrowing base of Bank Credit Agreement												1,600,000,000	1,600,000,000
Revenues recognized from current period acquisitions		623,400,000
Net Field Operating Income		426,000,000
Business Combination, Acquisition Related Costs			0	4,377,000	92,271,000																		800,000	48,500,000	3,600,000	43,800,000
Accrued Employee Related Severance Costs Encore																					19,800,000
Accounts Payable and Accrued Liabilities, Current			414,668,000	429,336,000				16,500,000
Other Liabilities, Noncurrent			23,607,000	20,756,000				3,300,000
Anticipated Proceeds From Sale Of Oil And Natural Gas Properties																																				75,000,000	155,000,000
Business Acquisition, Effective Date of Acquisition																																				Jan. 01, 2012	Dec. 01, 2011
Closing Adjustments																												41,700,000										13,500,000
Net proceeds from sales of oil and natural gas properties and equipment			34,750,000	69,370,000	1,458,029,000									300,000,000						213,800,000																68,500,000	141,800,000		32,100,000	892,100,000
Ownership percentage									100.00%
Number of units sold in the sale of investment	20,900,000
Number of equity Shares received as consideration for sale of Business																			3,137,255
Equity consideration received on sale of business																			93,000,000
Debt transferred in disposition																			234,000,000
Proceeds from Divestiture of Businesses					1,500,000,000
Net proceeds from sale of interest in Genesis Energy, LLC															79,000,000		84,000,000
Payment under incentive compensation agreement																		14,900,000
Pre-tax gain on sale of interest in Genesis			0	0	101,537,000											101,500,000
After-tax gain on sale of interest in Genesis																$ 63,000,000