Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Value Assigned, Per Share

No definition available.

Name:	esv_BusinessAcquisitionEquityInterestIssuedorIssuableValueAssignedPerShare
Namespace Prefix:	esv_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Business Combination, Consideration Transferred, Equity Interests Issued and Issuable, Entity Shares Issued Per Acquiree Share

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	esv_BusinessCombinationConsiderationTransferredEquityInterestsIssuedandIssuableEntitySharesIssuedPerAcquireeShare
Namespace Prefix:	esv_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of shares of equity interests issued or issuable to acquire entity.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)(4)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744584&loc=d3e6927-128479

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionEquityInterestsIssuedOrIssuableNumberOfSharesIssued
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- 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_BusinessAcquisitionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

This element represents acquisition-related costs incurred to effect a business combination which costs have been expensed during the period. Such costs include finder's fees; advisory, legal, accounting, valuation, and other professional or consulting fees; general administrative costs, including the costs of maintaining an internal acquisitions department; and may include costs of registering and issuing debt and equity securities.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 10
-Section 25
-Paragraph 23
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84229725&loc=d3e1043-128460

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationAcquisitionRelatedCosts
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of consideration transferred, consisting of acquisition-date fair value of assets transferred by the acquirer, liabilities incurred by the acquirer, and equity interest issued by the acquirer.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 30
-Paragraph 7
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6911251&loc=d3e6578-128477

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744584&loc=d3e6927-128479

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 30
-Paragraph 8
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6911251&loc=d3e6613-128477

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationConsiderationTransferred1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Contractual interest rate for funds borrowed, under the debt agreement.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.22(a)(1))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentInterestRateStatedPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Price of a single share of a number of saleable stocks of a company.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SharePrice
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=esv_AtwoodOceanicsInc.Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementClassOfStockAxis=us-gaap_CommonClassAMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_SubsequentEventTypeAxis=us-gaap_SubsequentEventMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=esv_SixPointFivePercentSeniorNotesDueTwoThousandTwentyMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Atwood Merger (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions		3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Oct. 06, 2017	Sep. 30, 2017	Sep. 30, 2017	Oct. 05, 2017	May 26, 2017
Atwood
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Merger related costs		$ 3.8	$ 8.0
Atwood \| Class A ordinary shares, U.S.
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Share price (in dollars per share)					$ 6.70
Subsequent Event \| Atwood
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Atwood share price value (in dollars per share)	$ 9.33
Merger consideration	$ 782.0
Merger related costs	$ 11.8
Subsequent Event \| Atwood \| Class A ordinary shares, U.S.
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of Ensco stock for each share of Atwood stock converted	1.60
Share price (in dollars per share)				$ 5.83
Merger consideration, shares issued (in shares)	134,100,000
6.50% Senior Notes Due 2020
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Debt instrument interest rate stated percentage		6.50%	6.50%