Organization and Basis of Presentation - Additional Information (Detail)				9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	May 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014 Separation [Member]
Basis Of Presentation And Organization [Line Items]
Spin-off description				In accordance with a separation and distribution agreement, the two companies were separated by NOV distributing to its stockholders all 107,053,031 shares of common stock of the Company after the market closed on May 30, 2014. Each NOV stockholder received one share of NOW common stock for every four shares of NOV common stock held at the close of business on the record date of May 22, 2014 and not sold prior to close of business May 30, 2014.
Common stock, shares outstanding	107,067,457	107,053,031	107,067,457	107,053,031
Ratio of common stock sharing				4