BUSINESS SEGMENTS INFORMATION (Segment Reporting) (Details) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2017	Mar. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2016
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	$ 3,341,000,000	$ 3,242,000,000
Production and delivery	2,200,000,000	2,499,000,000
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	389,000,000	662,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties	0	3,787,000,000
Selling, general and administrative expenses	153,000,000	138,000,000
Mining exploration and research expenses	15,000,000	18,000,000
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	27,000,000	10,000,000
Net gain on sales of assets	(23,000,000)	0
Operating income (loss)	580,000,000	(3,872,000,000)
Interest expense, net	167,000,000	191,000,000
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	174,000,000	77,000,000
Total assets	36,576,000,000	42,664,000,000	$ 37,317,000,000
Capital expenditures	344,000,000	982,000,000
Oil and Gas idle rig costs, inventory adjustments and asset impairments	(20,000,000)	200,000,000
Oil and gas contract settlement payments	70,000,000	0
Assets, discontinued operations	408,000,000	5,300,000,000
Operating Segments | North America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	116,000,000	218,000,000
Production and delivery	673,000,000	788,000,000
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	116,000,000	144,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	1,000,000	1,000,000
Mining exploration and research expenses	1,000,000	1,000,000
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets	0
Operating income (loss)	304,000,000	202,000,000
Interest expense, net	1,000,000	1,000,000
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	0	0
Total assets	7,175,000,000	8,241,000,000
Capital expenditures	28,000,000	34,000,000
Operating Segments | South America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	752,000,000	630,000,000
Production and delivery	473,000,000	410,000,000
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	133,000,000	132,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	2,000,000	2,000,000
Mining exploration and research expenses	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets	0
Operating income (loss)	260,000,000	127,000,000
Interest expense, net	16,000,000	22,000,000
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	101,000,000	39,000,000
Total assets	10,606,000,000	11,118,000,000
Capital expenditures	15,000,000	157,000,000
Corporate And Eliminations [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	374,000,000	503,000,000
Production and delivery	(817,000,000)	(508,000,000)
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	29,000,000	276,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties		3,787,000,000
Selling, general and administrative expenses	115,000,000	117,000,000
Mining exploration and research expenses	14,000,000	17,000,000
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	27,000,000	10,000,000
Net gain on sales of assets	(23,000,000)
Operating income (loss)	(137,000,000)	(4,267,000,000)
Interest expense, net	146,000,000	164,000,000
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	6,000,000	2,000,000
Total assets	5,086,000,000	11,127,000,000
Capital expenditures	47,000,000	565,000,000
Intersegment
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	0	0
Intersegment | North America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	979,000,000	918,000,000
Intersegment | South America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	116,000,000	41,000,000
Pt Smelting [Member] | Affiliated Entity [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	$ 258,000,000	277,000,000
Discontinued Operations, Disposed of by Sale | Tenke Fungurume [Member] | Corporate And Eliminations [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Capital expenditures		35,000,000
Pt Smelting [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Deferred Intercompany Profit, Percentage	25.00%
Morenci [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Restructuring and asset impairment charges	$ 19,000,000
Morenci [Member] | Operating Segments | North America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	66,000,000	162,000,000
Production and delivery	260,000,000	340,000,000
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	47,000,000	62,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	0	0
Mining exploration and research expenses	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets	0
Operating income (loss)	175,000,000	117,000,000
Interest expense, net	1,000,000	1,000,000
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	0	0
Total assets	2,814,000,000	3,490,000,000
Capital expenditures	23,000,000	28,000,000
Morenci [Member] | Intersegment | North America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	416,000,000	357,000,000
Other Individually Immaterial Operating Segments [Member] | Operating Segments | North America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	50,000,000	56,000,000
Production and delivery	413,000,000	448,000,000
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	69,000,000	82,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	1,000,000	1,000,000
Mining exploration and research expenses	1,000,000	1,000,000
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets	0
Operating income (loss)	129,000,000	85,000,000
Interest expense, net	0	0
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	0	0
Total assets	4,361,000,000	4,751,000,000
Capital expenditures	5,000,000	6,000,000
Other Individually Immaterial Operating Segments [Member] | Operating Segments | South America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	112,000,000	144,000,000
Production and delivery	82,000,000	119,000,000
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	21,000,000	31,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	0	0
Mining exploration and research expenses	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets	0
Operating income (loss)	9,000,000	(6,000,000)
Interest expense, net	0	0
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	3,000,000	(6,000,000)
Total assets	1,525,000,000	1,623,000,000
Capital expenditures	1,000,000	1,000,000
Other Individually Immaterial Operating Segments [Member] | Intersegment | North America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	563,000,000	561,000,000
Other Individually Immaterial Operating Segments [Member] | Intersegment | South America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	0	0
Cerro Verde [Member] | Operating Segments | South America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	640,000,000	486,000,000
Production and delivery	391,000,000	291,000,000
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	112,000,000	101,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	2,000,000	2,000,000
Mining exploration and research expenses	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets	0
Operating income (loss)	251,000,000	133,000,000
Interest expense, net	16,000,000	22,000,000
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	98,000,000	45,000,000
Total assets	9,081,000,000	9,495,000,000
Capital expenditures	14,000,000	156,000,000
Cerro Verde [Member] | Intersegment | South America
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	116,000,000	41,000,000
Grasberg Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Capital expenditures	244,000,000	222,000,000
Restructuring and asset impairment charges	21,000,000
Grasberg Segment [Member] | Operating Segments | Indonesia
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	534,000,000	498,000,000
Production and delivery	273,000,000	394,000,000
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	83,000,000	81,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	30,000,000	14,000,000
Mining exploration and research expenses	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets	0
Operating income (loss)	148,000,000	67,000,000
Interest expense, net	0	0
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	67,000,000	36,000,000
Total assets	10,879,000,000	9,306,000,000
Capital expenditures	244,000,000	222,000,000
Grasberg Segment [Member] | Intersegment | Indonesia
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	0	58,000,000
Molybdenum [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Capital expenditures	1,000,000	1,000,000
Molybdenum [Member] | Operating Segments
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	0	0
Production and delivery	52,000,000	52,000,000
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	19,000,000	19,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	0	0
Mining exploration and research expenses	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets	0
Operating income (loss)	(8,000,000)	(26,000,000)
Interest expense, net	0	0
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	0	0
Total assets	1,917,000,000	1,983,000,000
Capital expenditures	1,000,000	1,000,000
Molybdenum [Member] | Intersegment
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	63,000,000	45,000,000
Rod and Refining Segment [Member] | Operating Segments
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	1,107,000,000	971,000,000
Production and delivery	1,110,000,000	970,000,000
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	2,000,000	2,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	0	0
Mining exploration and research expenses	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets	0
Operating income (loss)	3,000,000	7,000,000
Interest expense, net	0	0
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	0	0
Total assets	261,000,000	236,000,000
Capital expenditures	1,000,000	1,000,000
Rod and Refining Segment [Member] | Intersegment
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	8,000,000	8,000,000
Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining Segment [Member] | Operating Segments
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	458,000,000	422,000,000
Production and delivery	436,000,000	393,000,000
Depreciation, depletion and amortization	7,000,000	8,000,000
Impairment of oil and gas properties		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	5,000,000	4,000,000
Mining exploration and research expenses	0	0
Environmental obligations and shutdown costs	0	0
Net gain on sales of assets	0
Operating income (loss)	10,000,000	18,000,000
Interest expense, net	4,000,000	4,000,000
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	0	0
Total assets	652,000,000	653,000,000
Capital expenditures	8,000,000	2,000,000
Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining Segment [Member] | Intersegment
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	0	1,000,000
Corporate And Eliminations [Member] | Intersegment
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	(1,166,000,000)	(1,071,000,000)
Oil and Gas Operations Segment [Member] | Operating Segments
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	331,000,000	4,400,000,000
Oil and Gas Operations Segment [Member] | Corporate And Eliminations [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Oil and gas contract settlement payments	(21,000,000)
Capital expenditures	$ 19,000,000	$ 523,000,000