Condensed Consolidating Financial Information - Income Statements Table (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2019	Mar. 31, 2018
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	$ 2,196	$ 2,524	[1]
Gains on sales of assets	19	19	[1],[2]
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Production taxes	34	31	[1]
General and administrative	103	87	[1]
Restructuring and other termination costs	0	38	[1]
Provision for legal contingencies, net	0	5	[1]
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	519	459	[1],[2]
Impairments	1	10	[1],[2]
Other operating expense	61	0	[1]
Total Operating Expenses	2,378	2,482	[1]
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS	(182)	42	[1]
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):
Interest expense	(161)	(162)	[1]
Gains (losses) on investments	(1)	139	[1]
Other income (expense)	9	(1)	[1]
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary	0	0
Total Other Expense	(153)	(24)	[1]
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	(335)	18	[1]
INCOME TAX BENEFIT	(314)	0	[1]
NET INCOME (LOSS)	(21)	18	[2],[3]
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	(1)	[3]
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(21)	17	[1]
Other comprehensive income	10	10	[3]
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(11)	27	[3]
Eliminations
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
Gains on sales of assets	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
Impairments	0	0
Other operating expense	0
Total Operating Expenses	0	0
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS	0	0
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):
Interest expense	0	0
Gains (losses) on investments	0	0
Other income (expense)	0	0
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary	277	(180)
Total Other Expense	277	(180)
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	277	(180)
INCOME TAX BENEFIT	0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS)	277	(180)
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	277	(180)
Other comprehensive income	0	0
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	277	(180)
Parent | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
Gains on sales of assets	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
Impairments	0	0
Other operating expense	0
Total Operating Expenses	0	0
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS	0	0
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):
Interest expense	(154)	(162)
Gains (losses) on investments	0	0
Other income (expense)	0	0
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary	(177)	179
Total Other Expense	(331)	17
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	(331)	17
INCOME TAX BENEFIT	(310)	0
NET INCOME (LOSS)	(21)	17
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(21)	17
Other comprehensive income	0	0
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(21)	17
Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	2,117	2,519
Gains on sales of assets	19	19
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Production taxes	28	31
General and administrative	85	87
Restructuring and other termination costs		38
Provision for legal contingencies, net	0	5
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	435	457
Impairments	1	10
Other operating expense	23
Total Operating Expenses	2,208	2,479
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS	(91)	40
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):
Interest expense	5	0
Gains (losses) on investments	0	139
Other income (expense)	9	(1)
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary	(100)	1
Total Other Expense	(86)	139
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	(177)	179
INCOME TAX BENEFIT	0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS)	(177)	179
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(177)	179
Other comprehensive income	10	10
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(167)	189
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	79	5
Gains on sales of assets	0	0
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Production taxes	6	0
General and administrative	18	0
Restructuring and other termination costs		0
Provision for legal contingencies, net	0	0
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	84	2
Impairments	0	0
Other operating expense	38
Total Operating Expenses	170	3
INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS	(91)	2
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):
Interest expense	(12)	0
Gains (losses) on investments	(1)	0
Other income (expense)	0	0
Equity in net earnings of subsidiary	0	0
Total Other Expense	(13)	0
INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE INCOME TAXES	(104)	2
INCOME TAX BENEFIT	(4)	0
NET INCOME (LOSS)	(100)	2
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	(1)
NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(100)	1
Other comprehensive income	0	0
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHESAPEAKE	(100)	1
Oil, natural gas and NGL
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	929	1,243	[1]
Oil, natural gas and NGL | Eliminations
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL | Parent | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	850	1,238
Oil, natural gas and NGL | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	79	5
Marketing
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	1,233	1,246	[1]
Revenues	1,233	1,246
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	1,230	1,268	[1]
Marketing | Eliminations
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	0	0
Marketing | Parent | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	0	0
Marketing | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	1,233	1,246
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	1,230	1,268
Marketing | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	0	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL and Marketing
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	2,162	2,489	[1]
Oil, natural gas and NGL and Marketing | Eliminations
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL and Marketing | Parent | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL and Marketing | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	2,083	2,484
Oil, natural gas and NGL and Marketing | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	79	5
Other
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	15	16	[1]
Other | Eliminations
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
Other | Parent | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
Other | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	15	16
Other | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
REVENUES AND OTHER:
Revenues	0	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL production
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	132	147	[1]
Oil, natural gas and NGL production | Eliminations
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	0	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL production | Parent | Reportable legal entities
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	0	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL production | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	117	147
Oil, natural gas and NGL production | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	15	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	274	356	[1]
Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation | Eliminations
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	0	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation | Parent | Reportable legal entities
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	0	0
Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	269	355
Oil, natural gas and NGL gathering, processing and transportation | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	5	1
Exploration
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	24	81	[1]
Exploration | Eliminations
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	0	0
Exploration | Parent | Reportable legal entities
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	0	0
Exploration | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	20	81
Exploration | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Reportable legal entities
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Expense	$ 4	$ 0

[1] Financial information for 2018 has been recast to reflect the retrospective application of the successful efforts method of accounting. See Note 1.

[2] Financial information for 2018 has been recast to reflect the retrospective application of the successful efforts method of accounting. See Note 1.

[3] Financial information for 2018 has been recast to reflect the retrospective application of the successful efforts method of accounting. See Note 1.