- Condensed Consolidating Balance Sheet (Unaudited) (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Jun. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 602,977	$ 725,722	$ 822,978	$ 512,245
Accounts receivable	242,657	319,152
Taxes receivable	18,169	55,480
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	74,290	92,260
Total current assets	938,093	1,192,614
Property and equipment, at cost	12,410,857	12,364,888
Accumulated depreciation	(2,572,562)	(2,302,940)
Property and equipment, net	9,838,295	10,061,948
Other assets	248,709	185,555
Total assets	11,025,097	11,440,117
Current liabilities
Current maturities of long-term debt	249,475	299,882
Accounts payable	86,643	108,224
Accrued payroll and related costs	38,326	48,383
Taxes payable	89,738	46,561
Interest payable	99,662	61,299
Other current liabilities	84,610	68,944
Total current liabilities	648,454	633,293
Long-term debt	3,793,894	4,040,229
Deferred income taxes	212,526	2,084
Other liabilities	297,806	297,066
Total liabilities	4,952,680	4,972,672
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	5,376,369	5,758,681
Noncontrolling interests	696,048	708,764
Total equity	6,072,417	6,467,445	7,819,781	7,422,230
Total liabilities and equity	11,025,097	11,440,117
Consolidating Adjustments [Member]
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Accounts receivable	0	0
Taxes receivable	0	0
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	(2,492,928)	(1,646,234)
Accounts receivable from affiliates	(7,104,795)	(3,690,281)
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0	0
Total current assets	(9,597,723)	(5,336,515)
Property and equipment, at cost	0	0
Accumulated depreciation	0	0
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Notes receivable from affiliates	(9,345,634)	(5,290,556)
Investments in affiliates	(32,700,770)	(20,766,555)
Other assets	0	0
Total assets	(51,644,127)	(31,393,626)
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables from affiliates	(2,492,928)	(1,646,234)
Current maturities of long-term debt	0	0
Accounts payable	0	0
Accrued payroll and related costs	0	0
Accounts payable to affiliates	(7,104,795)	(3,690,281)
Taxes payable	0	0
Interest payable	0	0
Other current liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	(9,597,723)	(5,336,515)
Long-term debt	0	0
Notes payable to affiliates	(9,345,634)	(5,290,556)
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Other liabilities	0	0
Total liabilities	(18,943,357)	(10,627,071)
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	(32,297,739)	(20,362,710)
Noncontrolling interests	(403,031)	(403,845)
Total equity	(32,700,770)	(20,766,555)
Total liabilities and equity	(51,644,127)	(31,393,626)
Noble-Cayman [Member]
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	14	2,537	228	1,627
Accounts receivable	0	0
Taxes receivable	0	0
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	0	0
Accounts receivable from affiliates	619,661	361,313
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	96	270
Total current assets	619,771	364,120
Property and equipment, at cost	0	0
Accumulated depreciation	0	0
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Notes receivable from affiliates	3,177,248	3,304,672
Investments in affiliates	5,029,983	2,848,855
Other assets	3,462	4,292
Total assets	8,830,464	6,521,939
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables from affiliates	0	0
Current maturities of long-term debt	0	0
Accounts payable	0	0
Accrued payroll and related costs	0	0
Accounts payable to affiliates	3,434,157	818,737
Taxes payable	0	0
Interest payable	24	48
Other current liabilities	16	12
Total current liabilities	3,434,197	818,797
Long-term debt	0	0
Notes payable to affiliates	0	0
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Other liabilities	19,929	19,929
Total liabilities	3,454,126	838,726
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	5,376,338	5,683,213
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	5,376,338	5,683,213
Total liabilities and equity	8,830,464	6,521,939
NHUS [Member]
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Accounts receivable	0	0
Taxes receivable	0	21,428
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	0	0
Accounts receivable from affiliates	92,349	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0	0
Total current assets	92,349	21,428
Property and equipment, at cost	0	0
Accumulated depreciation	0	0
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Notes receivable from affiliates	0	0
Investments in affiliates	3,179,576	2,007,016
Other assets	16,775	0
Total assets	3,288,700	2,028,444
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables from affiliates	1,605,243	171,925
Current maturities of long-term debt	0	0
Accounts payable	0	0
Accrued payroll and related costs	0	0
Accounts payable to affiliates	456,573	111,801
Taxes payable	41,361	0
Interest payable	0	0
Other current liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	2,103,177	283,726
Long-term debt	0	0
Notes payable to affiliates	700,000	700,000
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Other liabilities	0	0
Total liabilities	2,803,177	983,726
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	485,523	1,044,718
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	485,523	1,044,718
Total liabilities and equity	3,288,700	2,028,444
NDH [Member]
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	119	10,855	176	2,101
Accounts receivable	31,008	33,162
Taxes receivable	0	0
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	119,476	243,915
Accounts receivable from affiliates	149,005	137,476
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	1,040	1,611
Total current assets	300,648	427,019
Property and equipment, at cost	1,070,746	2,376,862
Accumulated depreciation	(246,631)	(428,308)
Property and equipment, net	824,115	1,948,554
Notes receivable from affiliates	1,053,783	112,706
Investments in affiliates	4,698,262	1,411,874
Other assets	6,419	5,687
Total assets	6,883,227	3,905,840
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables from affiliates	0	0
Current maturities of long-term debt	0	0
Accounts payable	2,856	4,228
Accrued payroll and related costs	4,848	4,882
Accounts payable to affiliates	1,857,871	1,995,788
Taxes payable	0	0
Interest payable	0	0
Other current liabilities	945	4,296
Total current liabilities	1,866,520	2,009,194
Long-term debt	0	0
Notes payable to affiliates	470,643	467,139
Deferred income taxes	0	534
Other liabilities	11,010	24,035
Total liabilities	2,348,173	2,500,902
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	4,535,054	1,404,938
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	4,535,054	1,404,938
Total liabilities and equity	6,883,227	3,905,840
NHIL [Member]
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	367	0	0	0
Accounts receivable	0	0
Taxes receivable	0	0
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	0	0
Accounts receivable from affiliates	60,944	67,560
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	49	0
Total current assets	61,360	67,560
Property and equipment, at cost	0	0
Accumulated depreciation	0	0
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Notes receivable from affiliates	0	69,564
Investments in affiliates	12,517,083	8,369,728
Other assets	0	0
Total assets	12,578,443	8,506,852
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables from affiliates	0	0
Current maturities of long-term debt	249,475	299,882
Accounts payable	0	0
Accrued payroll and related costs	0	0
Accounts payable to affiliates	404,332	123,642
Taxes payable	0	0
Interest payable	95,184	56,839
Other current liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	748,991	480,363
Long-term debt	3,592,411	3,838,807
Notes payable to affiliates	3,175,662	744,181
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Other liabilities	0	0
Total liabilities	7,517,064	5,063,351
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	5,061,379	3,443,501
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	5,061,379	3,443,501
Total liabilities and equity	12,578,443	8,506,852
NDS6 [Member]
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Accounts receivable	0	0
Taxes receivable	0	0
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	2,373,452	1,349,708
Accounts receivable from affiliates	357,957	85,274
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	1	0
Total current assets	2,731,410	1,434,982
Property and equipment, at cost	0	0
Accumulated depreciation	0	0
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Notes receivable from affiliates	3,943,299	5,000
Investments in affiliates	7,275,866	6,129,082
Other assets	0	0
Total assets	13,950,575	7,569,064
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables from affiliates	0	0
Current maturities of long-term debt	0	0
Accounts payable	0	0
Accrued payroll and related costs	0	0
Accounts payable to affiliates	0	0
Taxes payable	0	0
Interest payable	4,454	4,412
Other current liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	4,454	4,412
Long-term debt	201,483	201,422
Notes payable to affiliates	0	0
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Other liabilities	0	0
Total liabilities	205,937	205,834
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	13,744,638	7,363,230
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	13,744,638	7,363,230
Total liabilities and equity	13,950,575	7,569,064
Other Non-guarantor Subsidiaries of Noble [Member]
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	601,678	640,441	822,573	508,067
Accounts receivable	211,649	285,990
Taxes receivable	18,169	34,052
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	0	52,611
Accounts receivable from affiliates	5,824,879	3,038,658
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	73,014	86,868
Total current assets	6,729,389	4,138,620
Property and equipment, at cost	11,340,111	9,988,026
Accumulated depreciation	(2,325,931)	(1,874,632)
Property and equipment, net	9,014,180	8,113,394
Notes receivable from affiliates	1,171,304	1,798,614
Investments in affiliates	0	0
Other assets	222,138	168,573
Total assets	17,137,011	14,219,201
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables from affiliates	887,685	1,474,309
Current maturities of long-term debt	0	0
Accounts payable	83,558	103,640
Accrued payroll and related costs	33,492	43,437
Accounts payable to affiliates	951,862	640,313
Taxes payable	47,951	46,561
Interest payable	0	0
Other current liabilities	83,517	63,004
Total current liabilities	2,088,065	2,371,264
Long-term debt	0	0
Notes payable to affiliates	4,999,329	3,379,236
Deferred income taxes	212,526	1,550
Other liabilities	266,867	248,219
Total liabilities	7,566,787	6,000,269
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	8,471,145	7,106,323
Noncontrolling interests	1,099,079	1,112,609
Total equity	9,570,224	8,218,932
Total liabilities and equity	17,137,011	14,219,201
Noble Corp [Member]
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	602,178	653,833	822,977	511,795
Accounts receivable	242,657	319,152
Taxes receivable	18,169	55,480
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	0	0
Accounts receivable from affiliates	0	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	74,200	88,749
Total current assets	937,204	1,117,214
Property and equipment, at cost	12,410,857	12,364,888
Accumulated depreciation	(2,572,562)	(2,302,940)
Property and equipment, net	9,838,295	10,061,948
Notes receivable from affiliates	0	0
Investments in affiliates	0	0
Other assets	248,794	178,552
Total assets	11,024,293	11,357,714
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables from affiliates	0	0
Current maturities of long-term debt	249,475	299,882
Accounts payable	86,414	107,868
Accrued payroll and related costs	38,340	48,319
Accounts payable to affiliates	0	0
Taxes payable	89,312	46,561
Interest payable	99,662	61,299
Other current liabilities	84,478	67,312
Total current liabilities	647,681	631,241
Long-term debt	3,793,894	4,040,229
Notes payable to affiliates	0	0
Deferred income taxes	212,526	2,084
Other liabilities	297,806	292,183
Total liabilities	4,951,907	4,965,737
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	5,376,338	5,683,213
Noncontrolling interests	696,048	708,764
Total equity	6,072,386	6,391,977	$ 7,816,075	$ 7,414,471
Total liabilities and equity	$ 11,024,293	$ 11,357,714