Consolidated Statements of Operations - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
REVENUES:
Revenue	$ 668,210	$ 700,846	$ 647,819
OPERATING EXPENSES:
General and administrative expenses, exclusive of depreciation shown below	48,023	62,910	47,737
Depreciation	20,812	22,013	23,605
Amortization	1,793	1,074	919
Other (income) expense, net	5,319	(737)	632
OPERATING INCOME	96,684	118,622	109,968
Interest expense	14,690	13,328	10,734
Income before income tax expense	81,994	105,294	99,234
Income tax expense (benefit)	(12,290)	25,447	18,249
Income from continuing operations	94,284	79,847	80,985
Income (loss) from discontinued operations	7,833	(58)	2,111
Net income	102,117	79,789	83,096
Net income (loss) attributable to non-controlling interest	134	263	(29)
Net income attributable to Core Laboratories N.V.	$ 101,983	$ 79,526	$ 83,125
EARNINGS PER SHARE INFORMATION:
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations (in dollar per share)	$ 2.13	$ 1.81	$ 1.83
Basic earnings (loss) per share from discontinued operations	0.17	(0.01)	0.05
Basic earnings per share attributable to Core Laboratories N.V. (in dollar per share)	2.30	1.80	1.88
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (in dollar per share)	2.11	1.80	1.83
Diluted earnings (loss) per share from discontinued operations	0.17	(0.01)	0.05
Diluted earnings per share attributable to Core Laboratories N.V. (in dollar per share)	$ 2.28	$ 1.79	$ 1.88
WEIGHTED AVERAGE COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING:
Basic (in shares)	44,357,000	44,206,000	44,153,000
Diluted (in shares)	44,646,000	44,474,000	44,264,000
Service [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenue	$ 474,193	$ 486,820	$ 480,264
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of services and product sales, exclusive of depreciation shown below	345,641	343,833	333,365
Product [Member]
REVENUES:
Revenue	194,017	214,026	167,555
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Cost of services and product sales, exclusive of depreciation shown below	$ 149,938	$ 153,131	$ 131,593