Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award Number of Shares Outstanding

No definition available.

Name:	pten_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardNumberOfSharesOutstanding
Namespace Prefix:	pten_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- 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_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

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

+ References

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 (a)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120381028&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardNumberOfSharesAuthorized
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

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.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120381028&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardNumberOfSharesAvailableForGrant
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PlanNameAxis=pten_AmendmentAndRestatementOfTwentyFourteenPlanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PlanNameAxis=pten_LongTermIncentivePlanTwoThousandFiveMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Share-Based Compensation Plans (Detail) - shares	Dec. 31, 2020	Jun. 06, 2019	Jun. 29, 2017
Amended and Restated Plan
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares Authorized for Grant	28,400,000	28,400,000
Shares Underlying Awards Outstanding	6,634,513
Shares Available for Grant	4,986,392	9,500,000	9,800,000
Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. 2005 Long-Term Incentive Plan, as amended
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares Underlying Awards Outstanding	1,793,500