Commitments and Contingencies - Saudi Aramco (Details)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018 item
Joint Venture in Saudi Arabia
Number of drilling units to backstop entity share to purchase in the event of insufficient cash	25

Represents the number of drilling units to backstop entity share to purchase in the event of insufficient funds.

No definition available.

Name:	nbr_NumberOfDrillingUnitsToBackstopEntityShareToPurchaseInEventOfInsufficientCash
Namespace Prefix:	nbr_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration