BUSINESS SEGMENTS INFORMATION (Segment Reporting) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017	Sep. 30, 2017	Jun. 30, 2017	Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2016	Mar. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	$ 5,041	$ 4,310	$ 3,711	$ 3,341	$ 4,377	$ 3,877	$ 3,334	$ 3,242	$ 16,403	$ 14,830	$ 14,607
Production and delivery									10,300	10,697	10,693
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									1,714	2,530	3,240
Impairment of oil and gas properties						200	300	3,800	0	4,317	13,144
Metals inventory adjustments									8	36	338
Selling, general and administrative expenses									484	607	558
Mining exploration and research expenses									94	64	107
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									251	20	78
Net gain on sales of assets	(15)	(33)	(10)	(23)	113	(13)	(749)		(81)	(649)	(39)
Operating income (loss)	1,467	$ 917	$ 669	$ 580	703	$ 359	$ 18	$ (3,872)	3,633	(2,792)	(13,512)
Interest expense, net									801	755	617
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									883	371	(1,951)
Total assets	37,302				37,317				37,302	37,317	46,577
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									1,410	2,813	6,353
Restructuring and asset impairment charges											(145)
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Incomplete Accounting, Provisional Income Tax Expense (Benefit)									(393)	0	0
Assets held for sale	598				344				598	344
Grasberg Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									875	1,025	901
Molybdenum
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									5	2	13
South America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									115	382	1,722
North America copper mines
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									167	102	355
Indonesia
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									2,023	1,402	1,054
Operating Segments | Molybdenum Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Metals inventory adjustments									1
Operating Segments | Molybdenum
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									0	0	0
Production and delivery									229	199	312
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									76	68	97
Impairment of oil and gas properties										0	0
Metals inventory adjustments										15	11
Selling, general and administrative expenses									0	0	0
Mining exploration and research expenses									0	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									0	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets									0	0	0
Operating income (loss)									(38)	(96)	(72)
Interest expense, net									0	0	0
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									0	0	0
Total assets	1,858				1,934				1,858	1,934	1,999
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									5	2	13
Operating Segments | Rod & Refining
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									4,456	3,833	4,125
Production and delivery									4,470	3,836	4,129
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									10	10	9
Impairment of oil and gas properties										0	0
Metals inventory adjustments									0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expenses									0	0	0
Mining exploration and research expenses									0	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									0	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets									0	0	0
Operating income (loss)									2	16	16
Interest expense, net									0	0	0
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									0	0	0
Total assets	277				220				277	220	219
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									4	1	4
Restructuring and asset impairment charges											(3)
Operating Segments | Atlantic Copper Smelting & Refining
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									2,031	1,825	1,955
Production and delivery									1,966	1,712	1,848
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									28	29	39
Impairment of oil and gas properties										0	0
Metals inventory adjustments									0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expenses									18	17	16
Mining exploration and research expenses									0	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									0	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets									0	0	0
Operating income (loss)									20	72	67
Interest expense, net									18	15	10
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									5	9	4
Total assets	822				658				822	658	612
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									41	17	23
Operating Segments | North America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									408	684	909
Production and delivery									2,767	2,932	3,799
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									425	530	560
Impairment of oil and gas properties										0	0
Metals inventory adjustments										1	142
Selling, general and administrative expenses									4	5	6
Mining exploration and research expenses									2	3	7
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									0	0	3
Net gain on sales of assets									0	(576)	(39)
Operating income (loss)									1,365	1,479	648
Interest expense, net									4	4	4
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									0	0	0
Total assets	7,102				7,311				7,102	7,311	8,445
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									167	102	355
Operating Segments | North America | Morenci
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									228	444	558
Production and delivery									1,052	1,169	1,523
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									178	217	217
Impairment of oil and gas properties										0	0
Metals inventory adjustments										0	0
Selling, general and administrative expenses									2	2	3
Mining exploration and research expenses									0	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									0	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets									0	(576)	0
Operating income (loss)									861	1,143	461
Interest expense, net									3	3	2
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									0	0	0
Total assets	2,861				2,863				2,861	2,863	3,567
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									114	77	253
Operating Segments | North America | Other
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									180	240	351
Production and delivery									1,715	1,763	2,276
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									247	313	343
Impairment of oil and gas properties										0	0
Metals inventory adjustments											142
Selling, general and administrative expenses									2	3	3
Mining exploration and research expenses									2	3	7
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									0	0	3
Net gain on sales of assets									0	0	(39)
Operating income (loss)									504	336	187
Interest expense, net									1	1	2
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									0	0	0
Total assets	4,241				4,448				4,241	4,448	4,878
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									53	25	102
Restructuring and asset impairment charges											(99)
Operating Segments | North America | Morenci North America Copper Mines Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Metals inventory adjustments									0
Operating Segments | North America | Other Mines North America Copper Mines Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Metals inventory adjustments									2	1
Operating Segments | North America | North America copper mines
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Metals inventory adjustments									2
Operating Segments | South America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									3,309	2,751	1,873
Production and delivery									2,244	1,758	1,438
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									525	553	352
Impairment of oil and gas properties										0	0
Metals inventory adjustments										0	73
Selling, general and administrative expenses									9	9	4
Mining exploration and research expenses									0	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									0	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets									0	0	0
Operating income (loss)									916	618	67
Interest expense, net									212	82	16
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									446	216	4
Total assets	10,580				10,609				10,580	10,609	11,106
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									115	382	1,722
Restructuring and asset impairment charges											(13)
Operating Segments | South America | Cerro Verde
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									2,811	2,241	1,065
Production and delivery									1,878	1,351	815
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									441	443	219
Impairment of oil and gas properties										0	0
Metals inventory adjustments										0	0
Selling, general and administrative expenses									9	8	3
Mining exploration and research expenses									0	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									0	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets									0	0	0
Operating income (loss)									868	626	96
Interest expense, net									212	82	16
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									436	222	13
Total assets	8,878				9,076				8,878	9,076	9,445
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									103	380	1,674
Operating Segments | South America | Other
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									498	510	808
Production and delivery									366	407	623
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									84	110	133
Impairment of oil and gas properties										0	0
Metals inventory adjustments										0	73
Selling, general and administrative expenses									0	1	1
Mining exploration and research expenses									0	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									0	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets									0	0	0
Operating income (loss)									48	(8)	(29)
Interest expense, net									0	0	0
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									10	(6)	(9)
Total assets	1,702				1,533				1,702	1,533	1,661
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									12	2	48
Operating Segments | South America | South America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Metals inventory adjustments									0
Operating Segments | South America | Cerro Verde South America Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Metals inventory adjustments									0
Operating Segments | South America | Other Mines South America Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Metals inventory adjustments									0
Operating Segments | Indonesia | Grasberg Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									4,445	3,233	2,617
Production and delivery									1,743	1,794	1,808
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									556	384	293
Impairment of oil and gas properties										0	0
Metals inventory adjustments									0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expenses									126	90	103
Mining exploration and research expenses									0	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									0	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets									0	0	0
Operating income (loss)									2,020	1,027	449
Interest expense, net									4	0	0
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									869	442	195
Total assets	10,911				10,493				10,911	10,493	9,306
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									875	1,025	901
Corporate And Eliminations [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									1,754	2,504	3,128
Production and delivery									(3,119)	(1,534)	(2,641)
Depreciation, depletion and amortization									94	956	1,890
Impairment of oil and gas properties										4,317	13,144
Metals inventory adjustments									5	20	112
Selling, general and administrative expenses									327	486	429
Mining exploration and research expenses									92	61	100
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs									251	20	75
Net gain on sales of assets									(81)	(73)	0
Operating income (loss)									(652)	(5,908)	(14,687)
Interest expense, net									563	654	587
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									(437)	(296)	(2,154)
Total assets	5,752				6,092				5,752	6,092	14,890
Payments to Acquire Productive Assets									203	1,284	3,335
Restructuring and asset impairment charges											(23)
Corporate And Eliminations [Member] | U.S. Oil & Gas Operations
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	$ 271				$ 467				271	467
Gain (loss) on energy contracts										(35)	87
Oil and Gas drillship settlements, idle rig credits (costs) and inventory adjustments										1,000
Charges at oil and gas operations, before tax											188
Restructuring charges										(85)
Capital expenditures										1,200
Other Mining & Eliminations
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Assets, discontinued operations											4,900
Capital expenditures										73	229
Intersegment
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									0	0	0
Intersegment | Molybdenum
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									268	186	348
Restructuring and asset impairment charges											(7)
Intersegment | Rod & Refining
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									26	29	29
Intersegment | Atlantic Copper Smelting & Refining
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									1	5	15
Intersegment | Corporate And Eliminations [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									(4,837)	(4,159)	(4,706)
Intersegment | North America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									4,157	3,690	4,217
Intersegment | North America | Morenci
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									1,865	1,511	1,646
Intersegment | North America | Other
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									2,292	2,179	2,571
Intersegment | South America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									385	187	61
Intersegment | South America | Cerro Verde
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									385	187	68
Intersegment | South America | Other
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									0	0	(7)
Intersegment | Indonesia | Grasberg Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues									0	$ 62	$ 36
One-time Termination Benefits | Grasberg Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Production and delivery									120
Selling, general and administrative expenses									5
Operating income (loss)									(125)
Cerro Verde Royalty Dispute | Royalty Assessments | Cerro Verde
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Production and delivery									203
Interest expense, net									145
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes									7
Cerro Verde Royalty Dispute | Royalty Assessments | Operating Segments | South America | Cerro Verde
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Production and delivery									203
Interest expense, net									$ 145