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Common Shares (Details) (USD $)
1 Months Ended 12 Months Ended
Jul. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2012
Common Shares        
Shares purchased   10,375,000us-gaap_StockRepurchasedDuringPeriodShares 0us-gaap_StockRepurchasedDuringPeriodShares 0us-gaap_StockRepurchasedDuringPeriodShares
Share price of shares purchased (in dollars per share)   $ 24.100us-gaap_SharePrice    
Total aggregate amount of shares purchased   $ 250,000,000us-gaap_StockRepurchasedDuringPeriodValue    
Preferred shares, shares issued   0us-gaap_PreferredStockSharesIssued    
Issuance of common shares for stock options exercised (in shares)   3,000,000us-gaap_StockIssuedDuringPeriodSharesStockOptionsExercised 600,000us-gaap_StockIssuedDuringPeriodSharesStockOptionsExercised 1,100,000us-gaap_StockIssuedDuringPeriodSharesStockOptionsExercised
Proceeds from stock options exercised   30,300,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromStockOptionsExercised 5,400,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromStockOptionsExercised 17,400,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromStockOptionsExercised
Amount paid to repurchase surrendered unexercised vested options to satisfy exercise price and related tax withholding obligations     21,000,000nbr_ShareBasedCompensationPaymentsToRepurchaseVestedOptions  
Common stock dividend declared (in dollars per share) $ 0.06us-gaap_CommonStockDividendsPerShareDeclared $ 0.04us-gaap_CommonStockDividendsPerShareDeclared    
Cash dividends paid   59,145,000us-gaap_PaymentsOfDividends 47,168,000us-gaap_PaymentsOfDividends  
Officers and Directors        
Common Shares        
Restricted stock awarded to executive officers, key employees & directors   1,926,861us-gaap_StockIssuedDuringPeriodSharesRestrictedStockAwardGross
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4,847,376us-gaap_StockIssuedDuringPeriodSharesRestrictedStockAwardGross
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944,015us-gaap_StockIssuedDuringPeriodSharesRestrictedStockAwardGross
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Restricted shares awarded, average market price (in dollars per share)   $ 19.53nbr_AverageMarketPriceOfRestrictedShares
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$ 16.28nbr_AverageMarketPriceOfRestrictedShares
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$ 20.69nbr_AverageMarketPriceOfRestrictedShares
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Employees        
Common Shares        
Issuance of common shares for stock options exercised (in shares)     1,284us-gaap_StockIssuedDuringPeriodSharesStockOptionsExercised
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807,142us-gaap_StockIssuedDuringPeriodSharesStockOptionsExercised
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Value of surrendered unexercised vested stock options       $ 79,600,000nbr_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardOptionsSurrenderedInPeriodValue
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