Condensed Consolidating Financial Information Condensed Consolidating Financial Information Income Statements Table (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Oil, natural gas and NGL	$ 4,985	$ 3,288	$ 5,391
Marketing, gathering and compression	4,511	4,584	7,373
Total Revenues	9,496	7,872	12,764
Oil, natural gas and NGL production	562	710	1,046
Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation	1,471	1,855	2,119
Production taxes	89	74	99
Marketing, gathering and compression	4,598	4,778	7,130
General and administrative	262	240	235
Restructuring and other termination costs	0	6	36
Provision for legal contingencies, net	(38)	123	353
Oil, natural gas and NGL depreciation, depletion and amortization	913	1,003	2,099
Depreciation and amortization of other assets	82	104	130
Impairment of oil and natural gas properties	0	2,564	18,238
Impairments of fixed assets and other	421	838	194
Net gains (losses) on sales of fixed assets	(3)	(12)	4
Total Operating Expenses	8,357	12,283	31,683
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS	1,139	(4,411)	(18,919)
Interest expense	(426)	(296)	(317)
Losses on investments	0	(8)	(96)
Impairments of investments	0	(119)	(53)
Loss on sale of investment	0	(10)	0
Gains on purchases or exchanges of debt	233	236	279
Other income	9	19	8
Equity in net earnings (losses) of subsidiary	0
Total Other Expense	(184)	(178)	(179)
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	955	(4,589)	(19,098)
INCOME TAX EXPENSE (BENEFIT)	2	(190)	(4,463)
NET INCOME (LOSS)	953	(4,399)	(14,635)
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	(4)	9	68
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	949	(4,390)	(14,567)
Other comprehensive income	39	3	44
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	988	$ (4,387)	$ (14,523)
Consolidation, Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Oil, natural gas and NGL	0
Marketing, gathering and compression	0
Total Revenues	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL production	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation	0
Production taxes	0
Marketing, gathering and compression	0
General and administrative	0
Restructuring and other termination costs	0
Provision for legal contingencies, net	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL depreciation, depletion and amortization	0
Depreciation and amortization of other assets	0
Impairments of fixed assets and other	0
Net gains (losses) on sales of fixed assets	0
Total Operating Expenses	0
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS	0
Interest expense	0
Gains on purchases or exchanges of debt	0
Other income	0
Equity in net earnings (losses) of subsidiary	(1,067)
Total Other Expense	(1,067)
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	(1,067)
INCOME TAX EXPENSE (BENEFIT)	0
NET INCOME (LOSS)	(1,067)
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(1,067)
Other comprehensive income	0
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(1,067)
Parent Company [Member] | Reportable Legal Entities [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Oil, natural gas and NGL	0
Marketing, gathering and compression	0
Total Revenues	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL production	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation	0
Production taxes	0
Marketing, gathering and compression	0
General and administrative	1
Restructuring and other termination costs	0
Provision for legal contingencies, net	(79)
Oil, natural gas and NGL depreciation, depletion and amortization	0
Depreciation and amortization of other assets	0
Impairments of fixed assets and other	0
Net gains (losses) on sales of fixed assets	0
Total Operating Expenses	(78)
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS	78
Interest expense	(424)
Gains on purchases or exchanges of debt	233
Other income	1
Equity in net earnings (losses) of subsidiary	1,063
Total Other Expense	873
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	951
INCOME TAX EXPENSE (BENEFIT)	2
NET INCOME (LOSS)	949
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	949
Other comprehensive income	0
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	949
Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable Legal Entities [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Oil, natural gas and NGL	4,962
Marketing, gathering and compression	4,511
Total Revenues	9,473
Oil, natural gas and NGL production	562
Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation	1,463
Production taxes	88
Marketing, gathering and compression	4,598
General and administrative	259
Restructuring and other termination costs	0
Provision for legal contingencies, net	41
Oil, natural gas and NGL depreciation, depletion and amortization	909
Depreciation and amortization of other assets	82
Impairments of fixed assets and other	421
Net gains (losses) on sales of fixed assets	(3)
Total Operating Expenses	8,420
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS	1,053
Interest expense	(2)
Gains on purchases or exchanges of debt	0
Other income	8
Equity in net earnings (losses) of subsidiary	4
Total Other Expense	10
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	1,063
INCOME TAX EXPENSE (BENEFIT)	0
NET INCOME (LOSS)	1,063
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	1,063
Other comprehensive income	39
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	1,102
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable Legal Entities [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Oil, natural gas and NGL	23
Marketing, gathering and compression	0
Total Revenues	23
Oil, natural gas and NGL production	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation	8
Production taxes	1
Marketing, gathering and compression	0
General and administrative	2
Restructuring and other termination costs	0
Provision for legal contingencies, net	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL depreciation, depletion and amortization	4
Depreciation and amortization of other assets	0
Impairments of fixed assets and other	0
Net gains (losses) on sales of fixed assets	0
Total Operating Expenses	15
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS	8
Interest expense	0
Gains on purchases or exchanges of debt	0
Other income	0
Equity in net earnings (losses) of subsidiary	0
Total Other Expense	0
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	8
INCOME TAX EXPENSE (BENEFIT)	0
NET INCOME (LOSS)	8
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	(4)
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	4
Other comprehensive income	0
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	$ 4