Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies (Goodwill) (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Goodwill [Line Items]
Reduction in value of goodwill	$ 668,900	$ 251,826
Goodwill, Impaired, Accumulated Impairment Loss	$ 2,417,100
Valuation, Income Approach [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Goodwill Impairment, Percentage of method used in determining impairment	80.00%
Valuation, Market Approach [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Goodwill Impairment, Percentage of method used in determining impairment	20.00%
Onshore Completion And Workover Services [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Reduction in value of goodwill		583,600
Production Services [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Reduction in value of goodwill		$ 85,300

Goodwill Impairment, Percentage of method used in determining impairment

No definition available.

Name:	spn_GoodwillImpairmentPercentageOfMethodUsedInDeterminingImpairment
Namespace Prefix:	spn_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of accumulated impairment loss for an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (h)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108376223&loc=d3e13816-109267

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108376223&loc=d3e13816-109267

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GoodwillImpairedAccumulatedImpairmentLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of loss from the write-down of an asset representing the future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108376223&loc=d3e13854-109267

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118932676&loc=d3e3602-108585

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (e)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108376223&loc=d3e13816-109267

Reference 4: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=99380562&loc=d3e13777-109266

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GoodwillImpairmentLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
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_GoodwillLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ValuationTechniqueAxis=us-gaap_IncomeApproachValuationTechniqueMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ValuationTechniqueAxis=us-gaap_MarketApproachValuationTechniqueMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=spn_OnshoreCompletionServicesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=spn_ProductionServicesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: