Discontinued operation number of drillships discontinued.

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Discontinued operation number of jackups discontinued.

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Number of cold stack submersibles.

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Remaining Restructured Assets Net Book Value

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Amount of loss from the write-down of an asset representing the future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

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The aggregate amount of write-downs for impairments recognized during the period for long-lived assets held for abandonment, exchange or sale.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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The cash inflow from the sale of long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale.

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Loss on Impairment - Additional Information (Detail) $ in Millions	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) Rig	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($) Rig
Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) [Member] \| FDR Holdings, Ltd. [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Impairment of goodwill			$ 60
Noble Discoverer
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of drillships discontinued \| Rig		1
Noble Charles Copeland [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of jackups discontinued \| Rig		1
Capital Spare Equipment
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Impairment related charges		$ 406
Corporate Assets [Member] \| Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2) [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Impairment related charges		13
Submersible Rig Fleet [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Impairment related charges				$ 4	$ 13
Number of cold stack rigs \| Rig					2
Sales value of Rigs	$ 7
Submersible Rig Fleet [Member] \| Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Impairment related charges			$ 685
Book value of impaired asset		$ 47