Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2019
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Basis of Presentation	Basis of Presentation The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Pioneer Energy Services Corp. and our wholly owned subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Rule 10-01 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. In the opinion of our management, all adjustments (consisting of normal, recurring accruals) necessary for a fair presentation have been included. We suggest that you read these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements together with the consolidated financial statements and the related notes included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.
Use of Estimates	Use of Estimates — In preparing the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, we make various estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts of assets and liabilities we report as of the dates of the balance sheets and income and expenses we report for the periods shown in the income statements and statements of cash flows. Our actual results could differ significantly from those estimates. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant changes in the near term relate to our estimates of certain variable revenues and amortization periods of certain deferred revenues and costs associated with drilling daywork contacts, our estimates of projected cash flows and fair values for impairment evaluations, our estimate of the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets, our estimate of the liability relating to the self-insurance portion of our health and workers’ compensation insurance and our estimate of compensation-related accruals.
Subsequent Events	Subsequent Events — In preparing the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, we have reviewed events that have occurred after September 30, 2019, through the filing of this Form 10-Q, for inclusion as necessary.
Change in Accounting Principle and Recently Issued Accounting Standards	Change in Accounting Principle and Recently Issued Accounting Standards Changes to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) are established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the form of Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC). We consider the applicability and impact of all ASUs. Any ASUs not listed below were assessed and determined to be either not applicable or are expected to have an immaterial impact on our consolidated financial position and results of operations. Leases. In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases, which among other things, requires lessees to recognize substantially all leases on the balance sheet, with expense recognition that is similar to the former lease standard, and aligns the principles of lessor accounting with the principles of the FASB’s new revenue guidance in ASC Topic 606. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-11, Leases: Targeted Improvements, which provides an option to apply the guidance prospectively, and provides a practical expedient allowing lessors to combine the lease and non-lease components of revenues where the revenue recognition pattern is the same and where the lease component, when accounted for separately, would be considered an operating lease. The practical expedient also allows a lessor to account for the combined lease and non-lease components under ASC Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, when the non-lease component is the predominant element of the combined component. As a lessor, we elected to apply the practical expedient which allows us to continue to recognize our revenues (both lease and service components) under ASC Topic 606, and continue to present them as one revenue stream in our unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations. As a lessee, this standard primarily impacts our accounting for long-term real estate and office equipment leases, for which we recognized an operating lease asset and a corresponding operating lease liability on our unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet of $9.8 million at the adoption date of January 1, 2019. For leases that commenced prior to adoption of ASC Topic 842, we elected to apply the package of practical expedients which allows us to carry forward the historical lease classification. The adoption of ASC Topic 842 also resulted in a cumulative effect adjustment of $0.3 million after applicable income taxes, related to the write off of previously unamortized deferred lease liabilities at the date of adoption. For more information about the accounting under ASC Topic 842, and disclosures under the new standard, see Note 3, Leases.
Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash	Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash — Cash equivalents at September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018 were $13.9 million and $40.6 million, respectively, consisting of investments in highly-liquid money-market mutual funds. Our restricted cash balance reflects the portion of net proceeds from the issuance of our senior secured term loan which are currently held in a restricted account until the completion of certain administrative tasks related to providing access rights to certain of our real property.
Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets	Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets — Prepaid expenses and other current assets include items such as insurance, rent deposits, software subscriptions and other fees. We routinely expense these items in the normal course of business over the periods that we benefit from these expenses. Prepaid expenses and other current assets also include deferred mobilization costs for short-term drilling contracts.