Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands, shares in Millions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018	Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2017
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Number of Operating Segments	3
Foreign Currency Transaction Gain (Loss), Realized	$ 900	$ (600)
Effective tax rate	5.60%
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Restricted cash	$ 8,978		$ 261
Payments Related to Tax Withholding for Share-based Compensation	$ 293	0
Number of Shares of Convertible Debt, Warrants	11.2
Preferred, Fair Value Adjustment	$ (1,358)	(1,631)
Fair Value Adjustment Of Warrants, Income Statement	(1,994)	$ (5,976)
Asset Retirement Obligation, Accretion Expense	159
Increase (Decrease) in Asset Retirement Obligations	32
Compressco Partners Senior Notes 7.50% [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Fair value of Senior Notes	353,500
Carrying value of Senior Notes	$ 350,000
TETRA Senior Notes [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term Debt, Percentage Bearing Fixed Interest, Percentage Rate	11.00%
Fair value of Senior Notes	$ 128,500		130,800
Carrying value of Senior Notes			125,000
Compressco Partners Senior Notes [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term Debt, Percentage Bearing Fixed Interest, Percentage Rate	7.25%
Fair value of Senior Notes	$ 277,400		279,700
Carrying value of Senior Notes	$ 295,900		$ 295,900

Amount of expense (income) related to adjustment to fair value of warrant liability.

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Amount of addition (reduction) to the amount at which a liability could be incurred (settled) in a current transaction between willing parties.

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Amount of accretion expense recognized during the period that is associated with an asset retirement obligation. Accretion expense measures and incorporates changes due to the passage of time into the carrying amount of the liability.

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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.

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Percentage of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

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Amount before tax of foreign currency transaction realized gain (loss) recognized in the income statement.

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The increase (decrease) during the reporting period in the carrying amount of asset retirement obligations.

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The interest rate applicable to the portion of the carrying amount of long-term borrowings outstanding as of the balance sheet date, including current maturities, which accrues interest at a set, unchanging rate.

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Including the current and noncurrent portions, aggregate carrying amount of all types of notes payable, as of the balance sheet date, with initial maturities beyond one year or beyond the normal operating cycle, if longer.

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Fair value portion of notes payable.

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Number of operating segments. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise: (a) that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same enterprise), (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (c) for which discrete financial information is available. An operating segment may engage in business activities for which it has yet to earn revenues, for example, start-up operations may be operating segments before earning revenues.

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Amount of cash outflow to satisfy an employee's income tax withholding obligation as part of a net-share settlement of a share-based award.

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Amount of cash and cash equivalents restricted as to withdrawal or usage, classified as current. Cash includes, but is not limited to, currency on hand, demand deposits with banks or financial institutions, and other accounts with general characteristics of demand deposits. Cash equivalents include, but are not limited to, short-term, highly liquid investments that are both readily convertible to known amounts of cash and so near their maturity that they present insignificant risk of changes in value because of changes in interest rates.

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