Income Taxes (Details Textual) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Dec. 31, 2008
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]
Deferred tax assets, tax credit carryforwards	$ 372,000,000	$ 329,000,000
Reduction in Deferred tax liability for goodwill and other intangibles	155,000,000
Income Taxes (Textual) [Abstract]
Reduction in accrued deferred income taxes related to subsidiaries	214,000,000
Statutory income tax rate	35.00%
Net increase in valuation allowance	86,000,000
Operating loss carryforwards expiry period, in years	20 Years
Approximate deferred income taxes temporary differences	1,000,000,000	2,500,000,000	2,300,000,000
Tax liabilities for gross unrecognized tax benefits	379,000,000	438,000,000	339,000,000	401,000,000
Liabilities for interest	64,000,000
Liabilities for penalties	32,000,000
Approximate benefit to effective tax rate	349,000,000
Deferred tax asset that we did not prevail on all uncertain tax position	30,000,000
Period for change of unrecognized tax benefits	12 months
Uncertain tax positions tax liabilities net of assets	159,000,000
Uncertain tax positions tax assets	17,000,000
Gross unrecognized tax benefits	203,000,000
Gross unrecognized tax benefits settlement period	More than twelve months
Number of countries company operates in	more than 80 countries
BJ Services trade name [Member]
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]
Reduction in Deferred tax liability for goodwill and other intangibles	95,000,000
Indefinite Foreign Tax [Member]
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]
Deferred tax assets, tax credit carryforwards	92,000,000
Definite Foreign Tax [Member]
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]
Deferred tax assets, tax credit carryforwards	278,000,000
Reduction in Deferred Tax Liabilities Undistributed Foreign Earnings due to Reorganization of Foreign Subsidiaries	217,000,000
Definite State Tax [Member]
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]
Deferred tax assets, tax credit carryforwards	$ 2,000,000