Stockholders' equity (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified										12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended								0 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Apr. 12, 2010 classes_of_stock	Dec. 31, 2013 Class D Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2012 Class D Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2013 Class G Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2012 Class G Common Stock	Apr. 12, 2010 Class G Common Stock Fischer Investments, L.L.C.	Apr. 12, 2010 Class G Common Stock Altoma Energy GP	Apr. 12, 2010 Class G Common Stock CHK Energy Holdings Inc.	Dec. 31, 2013 Class B and C Common Stock Number of Directors Class of Stock Designates Directors	Dec. 31, 2013 Class E Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2012 Class E Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2013 Class E Common Stock Number of Directors Class of Stock Designates Directors	Dec. 31, 2013 Class B Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2012 Class B Common Stock	Apr. 12, 2010 Class B Common Stock	Jan. 12, 2014 Subsequent Event	Jan. 12, 2014 Subsequent Event Fischer Investments, L.L.C.	Jan. 12, 2014 Subsequent Event Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund	Jan. 12, 2014 Subsequent Event CCMP Times	Jan. 13, 2014 Subsequent Event Class D Common Stock CHK Energy Holdings Inc.	Jan. 13, 2014 Subsequent Event Class G Common Stock CHK Energy Holdings Inc.
Equity [Line Items]
Number of classes of common stock		7
Common stock, par value		$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.01					$ 0.01	$ 0.01		$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Common stock issued to existing stockholders							1	1	1
Shares of common stock sold																					279,999	1
Minimum proceeds from Qualified IPO required to trigger share conversion	$ 250,000
Number of directors										3			2
Minimum percentage ownership of common stock owned as of the Closing Date																80.00%
Closing date of initial Stockholders Agreement		4/12/2010
Minimum percentage of beneficial ownership required to retain rights and preferences under stockholders agreement	5.00%																5.00%
Maximum percentage of common stock that may be acquired																			25.00%
Maximum percentage of common stock that may be sold																		20.00%		20.00%
Multiple of price per share paid by CCMP that must be received by the Company for Demand IPO																				1.75