Condensed Consolidating Statement Of Operations (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Mar. 31, 2012
REVENUES
Natural gas, oil and NGL	$ 1,453,000,000	$ 1,068,000,000
Marketing, gathering and compression	1,781,000,000	1,216,000,000
Oilfield services	190,000,000	135,000,000
Total Revenues	3,424,000,000	2,419,000,000
OPERATING EXPENSES
Natural gas, oil and NGL production	307,000,000	349,000,000
Production taxes	53,000,000	47,000,000
Marketing, gathering and compression	1,745,000,000	1,197,000,000
Oilfield services	155,000,000	96,000,000
General and administrative	110,000,000	136,000,000
Natural gas, oil and NGL depreciation, depletion and amortization	648,000,000	506,000,000
Depreciation and amortization of other assets	78,000,000	84,000,000
Net gains on sales of fixed assets	(49,000,000)	(2,000,000)
Unamortized Costs Capitalized Less Related Deferred Income Taxes Exceed Ceiling Limitations, Expense	0
Impairments of fixed assets and other	27,000,000	0
Employee retirement and other termination benefits	133,000,000	0
Total Operating Expenses	3,207,000,000	2,413,000,000
INCOME FROM OPERATIONS	217,000,000	6,000,000
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE)
Interest expense	(21,000,000)	(12,000,000)
Losses on investments	(27,000,000)	(5,000,000)
Impairment of investment	10,000,000	0
Other income	6,000,000	6,000,000
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary	0	0
Total Other Income (Expense)	(52,000,000)	(11,000,000)
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	165,000,000	(5,000,000)
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)	63,000,000	(2,000,000)
NET INCOME (LOSS)	102,000,000	(3,000,000)
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	44,000,000	25,000,000
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	58,000,000	(28,000,000)
Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax	12,000,000	7,000,000
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	70,000,000	(21,000,000)
Parent
REVENUES
Natural gas, oil and NGL	0	0
Marketing, gathering and compression	0	0
Oilfield services	0	0
Total Revenues	0	0
OPERATING EXPENSES
Natural gas, oil and NGL production	0	0
Production taxes	0	0
Marketing, gathering and compression	0	0
Oilfield services	0	0
General and administrative	0	0
Natural gas, oil and NGL depreciation, depletion and amortization	0	0
Depreciation and amortization of other assets	0	0
Net gains on sales of fixed assets	0	0
Unamortized Costs Capitalized Less Related Deferred Income Taxes Exceed Ceiling Limitations, Expense	0
Impairments of fixed assets and other	0
Employee retirement and other termination benefits	0
Total Operating Expenses	0	0
INCOME FROM OPERATIONS	0	0
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE)
Interest expense	(219,000,000)	(161,000,000)
Losses on investments	0	0
Impairment of investment	0
Other income	216,000,000	163,000,000
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary	60,000,000	(29,000,000)
Total Other Income (Expense)	57,000,000	(27,000,000)
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	57,000,000	(27,000,000)
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)	(1,000,000)	1,000,000
NET INCOME (LOSS)	58,000,000	(28,000,000)
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	58,000,000	(28,000,000)
Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax	(2,000,000)	3,000,000
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	56,000,000	(25,000,000)
Guarantor Subsidiaries
REVENUES
Natural gas, oil and NGL	1,322,000,000	1,044,000,000
Marketing, gathering and compression	1,778,000,000	1,173,000,000
Oilfield services	0	0
Total Revenues	3,100,000,000	2,217,000,000
OPERATING EXPENSES
Natural gas, oil and NGL production	296,000,000	348,000,000
Production taxes	51,000,000	46,000,000
Marketing, gathering and compression	1,742,000,000	1,170,000,000
Oilfield services	0	0
General and administrative	87,000,000	109,000,000
Natural gas, oil and NGL depreciation, depletion and amortization	591,000,000	492,000,000
Depreciation and amortization of other assets	48,000,000	46,000,000
Net gains on sales of fixed assets	(49,000,000)	(1,000,000)
Unamortized Costs Capitalized Less Related Deferred Income Taxes Exceed Ceiling Limitations, Expense	0
Impairments of fixed assets and other	27,000,000
Employee retirement and other termination benefits	131,000,000
Total Operating Expenses	2,924,000,000	2,210,000,000
INCOME FROM OPERATIONS	176,000,000	7,000,000
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE)
Interest expense	(3,000,000)	(2,000,000)
Losses on investments	(27,000,000)	(31,000,000)
Impairment of investment	10,000,000
Other income	14,000,000	9,000,000
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary	(87,000,000)	(18,000,000)
Total Other Income (Expense)	(113,000,000)	(42,000,000)
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	63,000,000	(35,000,000)
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)	57,000,000	(7,000,000)
NET INCOME (LOSS)	6,000,000	(28,000,000)
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	6,000,000	(28,000,000)
Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax	14,000,000	4,000,000
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	20,000,000	(24,000,000)
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries
REVENUES
Natural gas, oil and NGL	128,000,000	24,000,000
Marketing, gathering and compression	3,000,000	43,000,000
Oilfield services	554,000,000	449,000,000
Total Revenues	685,000,000	516,000,000
OPERATING EXPENSES
Natural gas, oil and NGL production	11,000,000	1,000,000
Production taxes	2,000,000	1,000,000
Marketing, gathering and compression	3,000,000	27,000,000
Oilfield services	426,000,000	355,000,000
General and administrative	23,000,000	26,000,000
Natural gas, oil and NGL depreciation, depletion and amortization	57,000,000	14,000,000
Depreciation and amortization of other assets	71,000,000	72,000,000
Net gains on sales of fixed assets	0	(1,000,000)
Unamortized Costs Capitalized Less Related Deferred Income Taxes Exceed Ceiling Limitations, Expense	91,000,000
Impairments of fixed assets and other	0
Employee retirement and other termination benefits	2,000,000
Total Operating Expenses	686,000,000	495,000,000
INCOME FROM OPERATIONS	(1,000,000)	21,000,000
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE)
Interest expense	(21,000,000)	(18,000,000)
Losses on investments	0	26,000,000
Impairment of investment	0
Other income	3,000,000	34,000,000
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary	0	0
Total Other Income (Expense)	(18,000,000)	42,000,000
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	(19,000,000)	63,000,000
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)	(7,000,000)	25,000,000
NET INCOME (LOSS)	(12,000,000)	38,000,000
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(12,000,000)	38,000,000
Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax	0	0
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(12,000,000)	38,000,000
Eliminations
REVENUES
Natural gas, oil and NGL	3,000,000	0
Marketing, gathering and compression	0	0
Oilfield services	(364,000,000)	(314,000,000)
Total Revenues	(361,000,000)	(314,000,000)
OPERATING EXPENSES
Natural gas, oil and NGL production	0	0
Production taxes	0	0
Marketing, gathering and compression	0	0
Oilfield services	(271,000,000)	(259,000,000)
General and administrative	0	1,000,000
Natural gas, oil and NGL depreciation, depletion and amortization	0	0
Depreciation and amortization of other assets	(41,000,000)	(34,000,000)
Net gains on sales of fixed assets	0	0
Unamortized Costs Capitalized Less Related Deferred Income Taxes Exceed Ceiling Limitations, Expense	(91,000,000)
Impairments of fixed assets and other	0
Employee retirement and other termination benefits	0
Total Operating Expenses	(403,000,000)	(292,000,000)
INCOME FROM OPERATIONS	42,000,000	(22,000,000)
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE)
Interest expense	222,000,000	169,000,000
Losses on investments	0	0
Impairment of investment	0
Other income	(227,000,000)	(200,000,000)
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary	27,000,000	47,000,000
Total Other Income (Expense)	22,000,000	16,000,000
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	64,000,000	(6,000,000)
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)	14,000,000	(21,000,000)
NET INCOME (LOSS)	50,000,000	15,000,000
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	44,000,000	25,000,000
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	6,000,000	(10,000,000)
Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax	0	0
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	$ 6,000,000	$ (10,000,000)