Condensed consolidating information on certain US subsidiaries - Narrative (Details)	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018
BP Exploration (Alaska)
Disclosure Of Condensed Financial Statements [Line Items]
Ownership percentage in subsidiary	100.00%
BP Capital Markets p.l.c.
Disclosure Of Condensed Financial Statements [Line Items]
Ownership percentage in subsidiary	100.00%

The proportion of ownership interest in a subsidiary attributable to the entity. [Refer: Subsidiaries [member]]

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Name IAS
-Number 27
-IssueDate 2017-01-01
-Paragraph 17
-Subparagraph b
-Clause iii
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/XBRL?type=IAS&num=27&date=2017-03-01&anchor=para_17_b_iii&doctype=Standard
-URIDate 2017-03-09

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Name IAS
-Number 27
-IssueDate 2017-01-01
-Paragraph 16
-Subparagraph b
-Clause iii
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/XBRL?type=IAS&num=27&date=2017-03-01&anchor=para_16_b_iii&doctype=Standard
-URIDate 2017-03-09

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Name IFRS
-Number 12
-IssueDate 2017-01-01
-Paragraph 19B
-Subparagraph c
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/XBRL?type=IFRS&num=12&date=2017-03-01&anchor=para_19B_c&doctype=Standard
-URIDate 2017-03-09

Name:	ifrs-full_ProportionOfOwnershipInterestInSubsidiary
Namespace Prefix:	ifrs-full_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration