REVENUE RECOGNITION - Commodity Sales Contracts and Marketing (Details)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]
Typical term of payment following invoicing	30 days

Term of payment following invoicing for contracts with customers, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

No definition available.

Name:	crc_TermOfPaymentAfterInvoicingForContractsWithCustomers
Namespace Prefix:	crc_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration