Condensed Consolidated Statements Of Operations (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011
Revenues:
Drilling services	$ 125,662	$ 108,764	$ 369,014	$ 315,043
Production services	104,111	78,887	322,561	197,242
Total revenues	229,773	187,651	691,575	512,285
Costs and expenses:
Drilling services	88,188	72,430	247,896	213,129
Production services	65,395	44,394	191,774	115,376
Depreciation and amortization	42,067	32,992	120,429	97,672
General and administrative	21,269	17,705	64,677	48,086
Bad debt (recovery) expense	(368)	322	(515)	377
Impairment of equipment	0	484	1,032	484
Total costs and expenses	216,551	168,327	625,293	475,124
Income from operations	13,222	19,324	66,282	37,161
Other (expense) income:
Interest expense	(9,453)	(6,137)	(26,658)	(21,659)
Other	307	(1,193)	1,259	(6,956)
Total other expense	(9,146)	(7,330)	(25,399)	(28,615)
Income before income taxes	4,076	11,994	40,883	8,546
Income tax expense	(1,461)	(5,250)	(14,411)	(4,187)
Net income	$ 2,615	$ 6,744	$ 26,472	$ 4,359
Income per common share - Basic (USD per share)	$ 0.04	$ 0.11	$ 0.43	$ 0.08
Income per common share - Diluted (USD per share)	$ 0.04	$ 0.11	$ 0.42	$ 0.08
Weighted average number of shares outstanding - Basic	61,881	59,898	61,743	56,045
Weighted-average number of shares outstanding - Diluted	62,825	61,428	62,695	57,522