Drilling and Completion Costs Associated to Joint Ventures (Detail) (USD $)	9 Months Ended			52 Months Ended		9 Months Ended															9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012		Sep. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2012	Oct. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012 Utica [Member]		Sep. 30, 2012 Niobrara [Member]		Sep. 30, 2012 Eagle Ford [Member]		Sep. 30, 2012 Barnett Shale Joint Venture [Member]		Sep. 30, 2012 Marcellus Joint Venture [Member]		Sep. 30, 2012 Fayetteville Joint Venture [Member]		Sep. 30, 2012 Haynesville And Bossier [Member]		Sep. 30, 2009 Haynesville And Bossier [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Barnett And Utica Shale [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Minimum Subsequent Event [Member] Rigs	May 31, 2012 Minimum Subsequent Event [Member] Rigs	Jan. 31, 2012 Minimum Subsequent Event [Member] Rigs
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Gain (Loss) on Disposition of Assets				$ 0
Cash Received On Sale Of Leasehold Properties And Other Assets	7,100,000,000
Sale of Stock, Consideration Received on Transaction	9,000,000,000
Joint Venture Partner						TOT	[1]	CNOOC	[1]	CNOOC	[1]	TOT	[1]	STO	[1]	BP	[1]	PXP	[1]
Joint Venture Date						December 2011		February 2011		November 2010		January 2010		November 2008		September 2008		July 2008
Interest Acquired						25.00%		33.30%		33.30%		25.00%		32.50%		25.00%		20.00%
Cash Proceeds Received At Closing	7,100,000,000					610,000,000		570,000,000		1,120,000,000		800,000,000		1,250,000,000		1,100,000,000		1,650,000,000
Total Drilling Carries	9,036,000,000					1,422,000,000		697,000,000		1,080,000,000		1,404,000,000	[2]	2,125,000,000		800,000,000		1,508,000,000	[3]
Total Cash and Drilling Carry Proceeds	16,136,000,000					2,032,000,000		1,267,000,000		2,200,000,000		2,204,000,000		3,375,000,000		1,900,000,000		3,158,000,000
Drilling Carries Remaining	1,744,000,000	[4]				1,249,000,000	[4]	495,000,000	[4]	0		0		0		0		0
Percentage Reimbursed						60.00%		67.00%
Productive Gas Wells, Number of Wells, Gross																						12	2	6
Percentage Of Reduction In Drilling Carry Obligations												9.00%								12.00%
Customer Advances and Deposits					471,000,000
Billed Obligations					46,000,000
Supply Commitment, Remaining Minimum Amount Committed					425,000,000
Oil And Gas Benefit From Drilling Carries	655,000,000		1,868,000,000
Proceeds from sale of leasehold																					$ 228,000,000

[1] Joint venture partners include Total S.A. (TOT), CNOOC Limited (CNOOC), Statoil (STO), BP America (BP) and Plains Exploration & Production Company (PXP).

[2] In conjunction with an agreement requiring us to maintain our operated rig count at no less than 12 rigs in the Barnett Shale through December 31, 2012, TOT accelerated the payment of its remaining joint venture drilling carry in exchange for an approximate 9% reduction in the total amount of drilling carry obligation owed to us at that time. As a result, in October 2011, we received $471 million in cash from TOT, which included $46 million of drilling carry obligation billed and $425 million for the remaining drilling carry obligation. In January 2012, Chesapeake and TOT agreed to reduce the minimum rig count from 12 to six rigs. In May 2012, Chesapeake and TOT agreed to further reduce the minimum rig count from six to two rigs.

[3] In September 2009, PXP accelerated the payment of its remaining drilling carry in exchange for an approximate 12% reduction to the remaining drilling carry obligation owed to us at that time.

[4] As of September 30, 2012. The Utica drilling carries cover 60% of our drilling and completion costs for Utica wells drilled and must be used by December 2018. The Niobrara drilling carries cover 67% of our drilling and completion costs for Niobrara wells drilled and must be used by December 2014. We expect to fully utilize these drilling carry commitments prior to expiration. See Note 4 for further discussion of the Utica drilling carries.