| **Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies (Details) - Jun. 30, 2015 - CONSOL Carried Cost Obligation [Member] - USD ($)** | Total           |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------|
| **Other Commitments [Line Items]**                                                                                                            |            |
| Equity method investment, ownership percentage                                                                                                | 50.00%          |
| Maximum amount to be paid each calendar year for funding of future drilling and completion costs                                              | $ 400,000,000   |
| Funding of joint venture's future drilling and completion costs                                                                               | $ 1,600,000,000 |
| Natural gas price agreed upon benchmark, average                                                                                              | 4.00            |

| X                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Definition
Amount agreed upon to provide funding of the entity's joint venture future drilling and completion costs.
+ References
No definition available.
+ Details**Name:**nbl_FundingOfJointVenturesFutureDrillingAndCompletionCosts**Namespace Prefix:**nbl_**Data Type:**xbrli:monetaryItemType**Balance Type:**credit**Period Type:**duration |
| X                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Definition
The maximum amount of funding to be provided by the entity for future drilling and completion cost each calendar year.
+ References
No definition available.
+ Details**Name:**nbl_MaximumAmountToBePaidEachCalendarYearForFundingOfFutureDrillingAndCompletionCosts**Namespace Prefix:**nbl_**Data Type:**xbrli:monetaryItemType**Balance Type:**debit**Period Type:**duration |
| X                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Definition
Average natural gas price agreed upon benchmark for funding of future drilling and completion costs (in MMBtu's). If the average price of gas drops below benchmark for 3 consecutive months, capital carry will to be suspended until the average price of gas rises above the benchmark for a 3 consecutive month period.
+ References
No definition available.
+ Details**Name:**nbl_NaturalGasPriceAgreedUponBenchmarkAverage**Namespace Prefix:**nbl_**Data Type:**xbrli:decimalItemType**Balance Type:**na**Period Type:**duration |
| X                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Definition
The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.
+ References
Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 323 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -Subparagraph (a)(1) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6382943&loc=d3e33918-111571
+ Details**Name:**us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestmentOwnershipPercentage**Namespace Prefix:**us-gaap_**Data Type:**num:percentItemType**Balance Type:**na**Period Type:**instant |
| X                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Definition
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.
+ References
No definition available.
+ Details**Name:**us-gaap_OtherCommitmentsLineItems**Namespace Prefix:**us-gaap_**Data Type:**xbrli:stringItemType**Balance Type:**na**Period Type:**duration |
| X                                                                                                                                                          |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Details**Name:**us-gaap_OtherCommitmentsAxis=nbl_CONSOLCarriedCostObligationMember**Namespace Prefix:****Data Type:**na**Balance Type:****Period Type:** |