Name:	pten_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardOptionsExpectedToVestWeightedAverageRemainingContractualTermOne
Namespace Prefix:	pten_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award Options Expected To Vest Weighted Average Remaining Expected Term

No definition available.

Name:	pten_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardOptionsExpectedToVestWeightedAverageRemainingExpectedTerm
Namespace Prefix:	pten_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Nonvested, Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term

No definition available.

Name:	pten_SharebasedCompensationArrangementBySharebasedPaymentAwardOptionsNonvestedWeightedAverageRemainingVestingTerm
Namespace Prefix:	pten_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

Unrecognized cost of unvested share-based compensation awards.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109197908&loc=d3e5070-113901

Name:	us-gaap_EmployeeServiceShareBasedCompensationNonvestedAwardsTotalCompensationCostNotYetRecognized
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

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.

No definition available.