Commitments and Contingencies (Details)	Dec. 31, 1998 Individual
Loss Contingency [Abstract]
Number of individuals with benefits	3

Deferred compensation arrangement with individual number of individuals with benefits.

No definition available.

Name:	clb_DeferredCompensationArrangementwithIndividualNumberofIndividualswithBenefits
Namespace Prefix:	clb_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant