| **Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Notes)** | 6 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
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| **Accounting Policies [Abstract]**                                                                |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES                                                        | SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIESNature of OperationsBaker Hughes Incorporated (“Baker Hughes,” “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us,”) is a leading supplier of oilfield services, products, technology and systems used for drilling, formation evaluation, completion and production, pressure pumping, and reservoir development in the worldwide oil and natural gas industry.  We also provide products and services to the downstream refining and process and pipeline industries.Basis of PresentationOur unaudited consolidated condensed financial statements included herein have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial information.  Accordingly, certain information and disclosures normally included in our annual financial statements have been condensed or omitted.  These unaudited consolidated condensed financial statements should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 (“2011 Annual Report”).  We believe the unaudited consolidated condensed financial statements included herein reflect all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair presentation of the interim periods.  The results of operations for the interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations to be expected for the full year.  In the notes to the unaudited consolidated condensed financial statements, all dollar and share amounts in tabulations are in millions of dollars and shares, respectively, unless otherwise indicated.New Accounting Standards UpdatesIn June 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued an update to Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 220, Comprehensive Income.  This Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) requires entities to present components of comprehensive income in either a continuous statement of comprehensive income or two separate but consecutive statements that would include reclassification adjustments by component for items that are reclassified from other comprehensive income to net income on the face of the financial statements.  In December 2011, the FASB issued an update to this ASU indefinitely deferring the implementation of the reclassification adjustments by component requirement of the ASU issued in June 2011.  We adopted the new presentation requirement in the first quarter of 2012.  We elected the two-statement approach presenting other comprehensive income in a separate statement immediately following the unaudited consolidated condensed statement of income.In September 2011, the FASB issued an update to ASC 350, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other.  This ASU amends the guidance in ASC 350-20 on testing for goodwill impairment.  The revised guidance allows entities testing for goodwill impairment to have the option of performing a qualitative assessment before calculating the fair value of the reporting unit.  The ASU does not change how goodwill is calculated or assigned to reporting units, nor does it revise the requirement to test annually for impairment.  The ASU is limited to goodwill and does not amend the annual requirement for testing other indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment.  The ASU is effective for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2011.  We adopted this ASU effective January 1, 2012, with no impact to our unaudited consolidated condensed financial statements. |

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| - Definition
The entire disclosure for all significant accounting policies of the reporting entity.
+ References
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