Condensed Consolidating Financial Information - Balance Sheet (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 461,678	$ 662,829	$ 519,771	$ 725,722
Accounts receivable	181,804	204,696
Taxes receivable	21,530	105,345
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	55,448	66,105
Total current assets	720,460	1,038,975
Property and equipment, at cost	12,072,297	12,034,331
Accumulated depreciation	(2,673,437)	(2,545,091)
Property and equipment, net	9,398,860	9,489,240
Other assets	148,803	266,444
Total assets	10,268,123	10,794,659
Current liabilities
Current maturities of long-term debt	0	249,843
Accounts payable	94,275	84,032
Accrued payroll and related costs	35,473	54,904
Taxes payable	29,345	34,391
Interest payable	67,649	98,189
Other current liabilities	67,708	71,665
Total current liabilities	294,450	593,024
Long-term debt	3,841,350	3,795,867
Deferred income taxes	181,573	164,962
Other liabilities	291,965	290,178
Total liabilities	4,609,338	4,844,031
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	4,987,971	5,276,161
Noncontrolling interests	670,814	674,467
Total equity	5,658,785	5,950,628	6,181,825	6,467,445
Total liabilities and equity	10,268,123	10,794,659
Consolidating Adjustments
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Accounts receivable	0	0
Taxes receivable	0	0
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	(3,175,662)	(2,492,928)
Accounts receivable from affiliates	(5,061,778)	(7,080,817)
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0	0
Total current assets	(8,237,440)	(9,573,745)
Property and equipment, at cost	0	0
Accumulated depreciation	0	0
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Notes receivable from affiliates	(3,177,249)	(9,495,662)
Investments in affiliates	(17,376,278)	(34,534,543)
Other assets	0	0
Total assets	(28,790,967)	(53,603,950)
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables to affiliates	(3,175,662)	(2,492,928)
Current maturities of long-term debt		0
Accounts payable	0	0
Accrued payroll and related costs	0	0
Accounts payable to affiliates	(5,061,778)	(7,080,817)
Taxes payable	0	0
Interest payable	0	0
Other current liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	(8,237,440)	(9,573,745)
Long-term debt	0	0
Notes payable to affiliates	(3,177,249)	(9,495,662)
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Other liabilities	0	0
Total liabilities	(11,414,689)	(19,069,407)
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	(17,376,278)	(34,534,543)
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	(17,376,278)	(34,534,543)
Total liabilities and equity	(28,790,967)	(53,603,950)
Other Non-guarantor Subsidiaries of Noble
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	420,459	632,676	518,867	640,441
Accounts receivable	181,804
Taxes receivable	21,530
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	3,175,662
Accounts receivable from affiliates	4,391,705
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	55,070
Total current assets	8,246,230
Property and equipment, at cost	12,072,297
Accumulated depreciation	(2,673,437)
Property and equipment, net	9,398,860
Notes receivable from affiliates	0
Investments in affiliates	0
Other assets	148,318
Total assets	17,793,408
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables to affiliates	0
Accounts payable	94,114
Accrued payroll and related costs	35,551
Accounts payable to affiliates	670,074
Taxes payable	28,919
Interest payable	1,635
Other current liabilities	67,625
Total current liabilities	897,918
Long-term debt	0
Notes payable to affiliates	3,177,249
Deferred income taxes	181,573
Other liabilities	272,036
Total liabilities	4,528,776
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	12,593,818
Noncontrolling interests	670,814
Total equity	13,264,632
Total liabilities and equity	17,793,408
Other Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries of Noble
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents		609,516
Accounts receivable		179,974
Taxes receivable		12,040
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates		0
Accounts receivable from affiliates		5,813,846
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		63,963
Total current assets		6,679,339
Property and equipment, at cost		11,176,547
Accumulated depreciation		(2,435,086)
Property and equipment, net		8,741,461
Notes receivable from affiliates		1,175,300
Investments in affiliates		0
Other assets		238,718
Total assets		16,834,818
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables to affiliates		887,685
Current maturities of long-term debt		0
Accounts payable		82,406
Accrued payroll and related costs		50,124
Accounts payable to affiliates		845,634
Taxes payable		33,965
Interest payable		0
Other current liabilities		66,297
Total current liabilities		1,966,111
Long-term debt		0
Notes payable to affiliates		5,145,362
Deferred income taxes		164,957
Other liabilities		239,919
Total liabilities		7,516,349
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity		8,644,002
Noncontrolling interests		674,467
Total equity		9,318,469
Total liabilities and equity		16,834,818
Noble-Cayman
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	10	11	1	2,537
Accounts receivable	0	0
Taxes receivable	0	0
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	0	0
Accounts receivable from affiliates	609,128	594,456
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0	0
Total current assets	609,138	594,467
Property and equipment, at cost	0	0
Accumulated depreciation	0	0
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Notes receivable from affiliates	3,177,249	3,177,248
Investments in affiliates	4,803,162	4,933,978
Other assets	569	2,663
Total assets	8,590,118	8,708,356
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables to affiliates	0	0
Current maturities of long-term debt		0
Accounts payable	1	0
Accrued payroll and related costs	0	0
Accounts payable to affiliates	3,582,604	3,410,669
Taxes payable	0	0
Interest payable	163	2,211
Other current liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	3,582,768	3,412,880
Long-term debt	0	0
Notes payable to affiliates	0	0
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Other liabilities	19,929	19,929
Total liabilities	3,602,697	3,432,809
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	4,987,421	5,275,547
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	4,987,421	5,275,547
Total liabilities and equity	8,590,118	8,708,356
NHUS
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents		0	0	0
Accounts receivable		0
Taxes receivable		93,302
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates		0
Accounts receivable from affiliates		1,454
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		0
Total current assets		94,756
Property and equipment, at cost		0
Accumulated depreciation		0
Property and equipment, net		0
Notes receivable from affiliates		0
Investments in affiliates		4,550,358
Other assets		16,775
Total assets		4,661,889
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables to affiliates		1,605,243
Current maturities of long-term debt		0
Accounts payable		0
Accrued payroll and related costs		0
Accounts payable to affiliates		393,073
Taxes payable		0
Interest payable		0
Other current liabilities		0
Total current liabilities		1,998,316
Long-term debt		0
Notes payable to affiliates		700,000
Deferred income taxes		0
Other liabilities		0
Total liabilities		2,698,316
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity		1,963,573
Noncontrolling interests		0
Total equity		1,963,573
Total liabilities and equity		4,661,889
NDH
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents		23,160	100	10,855
Accounts receivable		24,722
Taxes receivable		3
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates		119,476
Accounts receivable from affiliates		144,367
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		1,477
Total current assets		313,205
Property and equipment, at cost		857,784
Accumulated depreciation		(110,005)
Property and equipment, net		747,779
Notes receivable from affiliates		1,199,815
Investments in affiliates		5,252,135
Other assets		8,372
Total assets		7,521,306
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables to affiliates		0
Current maturities of long-term debt		0
Accounts payable		1,467
Accrued payroll and related costs		4,780
Accounts payable to affiliates		1,770,066
Taxes payable		0
Interest payable		0
Other current liabilities		5,169
Total current liabilities		1,781,482
Long-term debt		0
Notes payable to affiliates		474,637
Deferred income taxes		5
Other liabilities		30,330
Total liabilities		2,286,454
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity		5,234,852
Noncontrolling interests		0
Total equity		5,234,852
Total liabilities and equity		7,521,306
NHIL
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	40,362	29,324	0	0
Accounts receivable	0	0
Taxes receivable	0	0
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	0	0
Accounts receivable from affiliates	60,945	60,945
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0	0
Total current assets	101,307	90,269
Property and equipment, at cost	0	0
Accumulated depreciation	0	0
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Notes receivable from affiliates	0	0
Investments in affiliates	12,573,116	12,560,598
Other assets	0	0
Total assets	12,674,423	12,650,867
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables to affiliates	3,175,662	0
Current maturities of long-term debt		249,843
Accounts payable	0	0
Accrued payroll and related costs	0	0
Accounts payable to affiliates	809,100	661,375
Taxes payable	0	0
Interest payable	65,851	83,960
Other current liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	4,050,613	995,178
Long-term debt	3,841,350	3,594,332
Notes payable to affiliates	0	3,175,663
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Other liabilities	0	0
Total liabilities	7,891,963	7,765,173
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	4,782,460	4,885,694
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total equity	4,782,460	4,885,694
Total liabilities and equity	12,674,423	12,650,867
NDS6
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents		0	0	0
Accounts receivable		0
Taxes receivable		0
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates		2,373,452
Accounts receivable from affiliates		465,749
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		1
Total current assets		2,839,202
Property and equipment, at cost		0
Accumulated depreciation		0
Property and equipment, net		0
Notes receivable from affiliates		3,943,299
Investments in affiliates		7,237,474
Other assets		0
Total assets		14,019,975
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables to affiliates		0
Current maturities of long-term debt		0
Accounts payable		0
Accrued payroll and related costs		0
Accounts payable to affiliates		0
Taxes payable		0
Interest payable		12,018
Other current liabilities		0
Total current liabilities		12,018
Long-term debt		201,535
Notes payable to affiliates		0
Deferred income taxes		0
Other liabilities		0
Total liabilities		213,553
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity		13,806,422
Noncontrolling interests		0
Total equity		13,806,422
Total liabilities and equity		14,019,975
Noble Corp
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	460,831	662,011	518,968	653,833
Accounts receivable	181,804	204,696
Taxes receivable	21,530	105,345
Short-term notes receivable from affiliates	0	0
Accounts receivable from affiliates	0	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	55,070	65,441
Total current assets	719,235	1,037,493
Property and equipment, at cost	12,072,297	12,034,331
Accumulated depreciation	(2,673,437)	(2,545,091)
Property and equipment, net	9,398,860	9,489,240
Notes receivable from affiliates	0	0
Investments in affiliates	0	0
Other assets	148,887	266,528
Total assets	10,266,982	10,793,261
Current liabilities
Short-term notes payables to affiliates	0	0
Current maturities of long-term debt	0	249,843
Accounts payable	94,115	83,873
Accrued payroll and related costs	35,551	54,904
Accounts payable to affiliates	0	0
Taxes payable	28,919	33,965
Interest payable	67,649	98,189
Other current liabilities	67,625	71,466
Total current liabilities	293,859	592,240
Long-term debt	3,841,350	3,795,867
Notes payable to affiliates	0	0
Deferred income taxes	181,573	164,962
Other liabilities	291,965	290,178
Total liabilities	4,608,747	4,843,247
Commitments and contingencies
Total shareholder equity	4,987,421	5,275,547
Noncontrolling interests	670,814	674,467
Total equity	5,658,235	5,950,014	$ 6,177,812	$ 6,391,977
Total liabilities and equity	$ 10,266,982	$ 10,793,261