Asset Retirement Obligations - Narrative (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019	Mar. 31, 2018
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Liabilities Settled	$ 27	$ 20
Increase (decrease) of estimates	0	(11)
ARO transfers	0	227
Gulf of Mexico properties
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
ARO transfers		227
Onshore US
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Liabilities Settled	$ 27	20
North Sea abandonment project
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Increase (decrease) of estimates		$ (11)

Asset Retirement Obligation, Reclassification to Liabilities Associated With Assets Held for Sale

No definition available.

Name:	nbl_AssetRetirementObligationReclassificationtoLiabilitiesAssociatedWithAssetsHeldforSale
Namespace Prefix:	nbl_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of asset retirement obligations settled, or otherwise disposed of, during the period. This may include asset retirement obligations transferred to third parties associated with the sale of a long-lived asset.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 410
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (c)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6392692&loc=d3e7535-110849

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AssetRetirementObligationLiabilitiesSettled
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of increase (decrease) in the asset retirement obligation from changes in the amount or timing of the estimated cash flows associated with the settlement of the obligation.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 410
-SubTopic 20
-Section 35
-Paragraph 8
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6392603&loc=d3e7123-110846

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 410
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (c)(4)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6392692&loc=d3e7535-110849

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AssetRetirementObligationRevisionOfEstimate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeStatementBalanceSheetAndAdditionalDisclosuresByDisposalGroupsIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeStatementBalanceSheetAndAdditionalDisclosuresByDisposalGroupsIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsAxis=nbl_GulfOfMexicoAssetsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeStatementBalanceSheetAndAdditionalDisclosuresByDisposalGroupsIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsAxis=nbl_OnshoreUSMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeStatementBalanceSheetAndAdditionalDisclosuresByDisposalGroupsIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsAxis=nbl_NorthSeaMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: