Condensed Consolidating Financial Information - Condensed Consolidating Statement of Operations (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions		12 Months Ended
	Jan. 30, 2018	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
REVENUES:
Revenues		$ 10,231	$ 9,496	$ 7,872
Revenue from contracts with customers		5,189
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Production taxes		124	89	74
General and administrative		280	262	240
Restructuring and other termination costs	$ 38	38	0	6
Provision for legal contingencies, net		26	(38)	123
Depreciation, depletion and amortization		1,145	995	1,107
Loss on sale of oil and natural gas properties		578	0	0
Impairments		53	5	3,025
Other operating expenses		10	413	365
Total Operating Expenses		9,349	8,357	12,283
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS		882	1,139	(4,411)
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):
Interest expense		(487)	(426)	(296)
Gains on investments		139	0	(137)
Gains on purchases or exchanges of debt		263	233	236
Other income		70	9	19
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary		0	0
Total Other Expense		(15)	(184)	(178)
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES		867	955	(4,589)
Total Income Tax Expense (Benefit)		(10)	2	(190)
NET INCOME (LOSS)		877	953	(4,399)
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests		(4)	(4)	9
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE		873	949	(4,390)
Other comprehensive income		34	39	3
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE		907	988	(4,387)
Oil, Natural Gas and NGL [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues		5,155	4,985	3,288
Oil, natural gas and NGL production [Member]
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		539	562	710
Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation [Member]
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		1,398	1,471	1,855
Marketing [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenue from contracts with customers		5,076	4,511	4,584
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		5,158	4,598	$ 4,778
Eliminations [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues		0	0
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Production taxes		0	0
General and administrative		0	0
Restructuring and other termination costs		0
Provision for legal contingencies, net		0	0
Depreciation, depletion and amortization		0	0
Loss on sale of oil and natural gas properties		0
Impairments		0	0
Other operating expenses		0	0
Total Operating Expenses		0	0
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS		0	0
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):
Interest expense		0	0
Gains on investments		0
Gains on purchases or exchanges of debt		0	0
Other income		0	0
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary		(1,087)	(1,067)
Total Other Expense		(1,087)	(1,067)
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES		(1,087)	(1,067)
Total Income Tax Expense (Benefit)		0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS)		(1,087)	(1,067)
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests		0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE		(1,087)	(1,067)
Other comprehensive income		0	0
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE		(1,087)	(1,067)
Eliminations [Member] | Oil, Natural Gas and NGL [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues		0	0
Eliminations [Member] | Oil, natural gas and NGL production [Member]
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		0	0
Eliminations [Member] | Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation [Member]
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		0	0
Eliminations [Member] | Marketing [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues			0
Revenue from contracts with customers		0
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		0	0
Parent [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues		0	0
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Production taxes		0	0
General and administrative		2	1
Restructuring and other termination costs		0
Provision for legal contingencies, net		0	(79)
Depreciation, depletion and amortization		0	0
Loss on sale of oil and natural gas properties		0
Impairments		0	0
Other operating expenses		0	0
Total Operating Expenses		2	(78)
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS		(2)	78
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):
Interest expense		(485)	(424)
Gains on investments		0
Gains on purchases or exchanges of debt		263	233
Other income		3	1
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary		1,084	1,063
Total Other Expense		865	873
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES		863	951
Total Income Tax Expense (Benefit)		(10)	2
NET INCOME (LOSS)		873	949
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests		0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE		873	949
Other comprehensive income		0	0
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE		873	949
Parent [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Oil, Natural Gas and NGL [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues		0	0
Parent [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Oil, natural gas and NGL production [Member]
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		0	0
Parent [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation [Member]
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		0	0
Parent [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Marketing [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues			0
Revenue from contracts with customers		0
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		0	0
Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues		10,212	9,473
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Production taxes		123	88
General and administrative		277	259
Restructuring and other termination costs		38
Provision for legal contingencies, net		26	41
Depreciation, depletion and amortization		1,142	991
Loss on sale of oil and natural gas properties		578
Impairments		53	5
Other operating expenses		10	413
Total Operating Expenses		9,335	8,420
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS		877	1,053
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):
Interest expense		(2)	(2)
Gains on investments		139
Gains on purchases or exchanges of debt		0	0
Other income		67	8
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary		3	4
Total Other Expense		207	10
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES		1,084	1,063
Total Income Tax Expense (Benefit)		0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS)		1,084	1,063
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests		0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE		1,084	1,063
Other comprehensive income		34	39
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE		1,118	1,102
Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Oil, Natural Gas and NGL [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues		5,136	4,962
Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Oil, natural gas and NGL production [Member]
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		539	562
Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation [Member]
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		1,391	1,463
Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Marketing [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues			4,511
Revenue from contracts with customers		5,076
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		5,158	4,598
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues		19	23
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Production taxes		1	1
General and administrative		1	2
Restructuring and other termination costs		0
Provision for legal contingencies, net		0	0
Depreciation, depletion and amortization		3	4
Loss on sale of oil and natural gas properties		0
Impairments		0	0
Other operating expenses		0	0
Total Operating Expenses		12	15
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS		7	8
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):
Interest expense		0	0
Gains on investments		0
Gains on purchases or exchanges of debt		0	0
Other income		0	0
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary		0	0
Total Other Expense		0	0
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES		7	8
Total Income Tax Expense (Benefit)		0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS)		7	8
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests		(4)	(4)
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE		3	4
Other comprehensive income		0	0
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE		3	4
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Oil, Natural Gas and NGL [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues		19	23
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Oil, natural gas and NGL production [Member]
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		0	0
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation [Member]
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		7	8
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member] | Reportable legal entities [Member] | Marketing [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenues			0
Revenue from contracts with customers		0
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of goods and services		$ 0	0
Noncontrolling Interest, Chesapeake Granite Wash Trust [Member]
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests			$ (4)