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Share Based Compensation Arrangement by Share Based Payment Award, Awards Incentive Period

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Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award,Performance completion year.

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Share based compensation arrangement by share based payment award performance period.

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Stock issued during period shares issued for settlement.

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Amount of expense for award under share-based payment arrangement. Excludes amount capitalized.

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Amount of commitment made to pay deferred cash remuneration.

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The compensation expense recognized during the period pertaining to the deferred compensation arrangement.

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Amount of cost not yet recognized for nonvested award under share-based payment arrangement.

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Period over which grantee's right to exercise award under share-based payment arrangement is no longer contingent on satisfaction of service or performance condition, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Includes, but is not limited to, combination of market, performance or service condition.

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Description of terms of share-based payment arrangement. Includes, but is not limited to, type of award or grantee and reason for issuance.

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The number of non-vested equity-based payment instruments, excluding stock (or unit) options, that validly exist and are outstanding as of the balance sheet date.

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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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Number of shares authorized for issuance under share-based payment arrangement.

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The difference between the maximum number of shares (or other type of equity) authorized for issuance under the plan (including the effects of amendments and adjustments), and the sum of: 1) the number of shares (or other type of equity) already issued upon exercise of options or other equity-based awards under the plan; and 2) shares (or other type of equity) reserved for issuance on granting of outstanding awards, net of cancellations and forfeitures, if applicable.

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Net number of share options (or share units) granted during the period.

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Amount by which the current fair value of the underlying stock exceeds the exercise price of options outstanding.

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Number of options outstanding, including both vested and non-vested options.

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Percentage of vesting of award under share-based payment arrangement.

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Weighted average remaining contractual term for vested portions of options outstanding and currently exercisable or convertible, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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Weighted average remaining contractual term for option awards outstanding, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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Stock-based Compensation - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($)	1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Apr. 30, 2021	May 31, 2020	Apr. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2021	Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019	Jun. 03, 2021
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Compensation expense				$ 750,000
Compensation expense foregoing limit				$ 1,000,000
Number of stock option granted				0	0	0
Outstanding non-vested restricted stock				3,300,000
Options outstanding				3,720,150	4,026,150
Employee Stock Option [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Options outstanding, aggregate intrinsic value				$ 0
weighted-average remaining contractual term				2 years 5 months 12 days
Performance Shares [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Weighted-average remaining vesting period for unvested performance units				1 year 5 months 8 days
Performance period				3 years
Unrecognized compensation cost				$ 6,600,000
Performance Shares [Member] \| Year Twenty Sixteen [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Compensation expense						$ 321,000
Shares issued			185,000
Performance Shares [Member] \| Year Twenty Seventeen [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Compensation expense					$ 642,000	1,927,000
Shares issued		332,773
Performance Shares [Member] \| Year Twenty Eighteen [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Compensation expense				667,000	2,668,000	$ 2,668,000
Shares issued	621,400
Phantom Share Units P S Us [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Awards vesting period		3 years
Performance completion year		2023
Grant date fair value		$ 1,200,000
Expense recognized				$ 1,800,000	$ 600,000
Award description		Mr. Hendricks may earn from 0% to 200% of a target award of 298,500 phantom units based on our achievement of the same performance conditions over the same performance period that applies to the Performance Units granted in April 2020, as described above. Earned Phantom Units, if any, will be settled in 2023, following completion of the three-year performance period, in a cash payment equal to the number of earned phantom units multiplied by our average trading price per share over the twenty consecutive trading days ending March 31, 2023.
Option to Purchase [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Options outstanding				0
Chief Executive Officer And President [Member] \| Phantom Share Units P S Us [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Non-vested restricted stock units outstanding at beginning of year		298,500
Chief Executive Officer And President [Member] \| Maximum [Member] \| Phantom Share Units P S Us [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of target award vesting righ		200.00%
Chief Executive Officer And President [Member] \| Minimum [Member] \| Phantom Share Units P S Us [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of target award vesting righ		0.00%
Two Thousand fourteen Long Term Incentive Plan
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares available for grant				0
Shares authorized for grant				0			4,900,000
Two Thousand fourteen Long Term Incentive Plan \| Maximum [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Option term				10 years
Two Thousand fourteen Long Term Incentive Plan \| Non Employee Director [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Awards vesting period				1 year
Two Thousand fourteen Long Term Incentive Plan \| Employee [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Awards vesting period				3 years
Two Thousand Twenty One Long Term Incentive Plan
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares available for grant				8,288,582
Shares authorized for grant				13,467,480			13,500,000
Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. 2005 Long-Term Incentive Plan, as amended
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares available for grant				0
Shares authorized for grant				0
Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. 2005 Long-Term Incentive Plan, as amended \| Non Employee Director [Member] \| Employee Stock Option [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Awards vesting period				1 year
Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. 2005 Long-Term Incentive Plan, as amended \| Employee [Member] \| Employee Stock Option [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Awards vesting period				3 years