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Fair Values of Financial Instruments - Additional Information (Detail) | 3 Months Ended | 12 Months Ended
--- | --- | ---
Mar. 31, 2015 | Dec. 31, 2014
4.97% Series A Senior Notes, Due October 5th 2020 |  |
Fair Value Balance Sheet Grouping Financial Statement Captions [Line Items] |  |
Current market rates used in measuring fair value | 4.11%pten_MinimumPercentageOfFairValueTransactionsCorroboratedUsingObservableMarketInputsRequiredForLevelTwo / us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis = pten_SeriesASeniorNotesFourPointNineSevenPercentDueOctoberFiveTwentyTwentyMember | 5.77%pten_MinimumPercentageOfFairValueTransactionsCorroboratedUsingObservableMarketInputsRequiredForLevelTwo / us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis = pten_SeriesASeniorNotesFourPointNineSevenPercentDueOctoberFiveTwentyTwentyMember
4.27% Series B Senior Notes, Due June 14th 2022 |  |
Fair Value Balance Sheet Grouping Financial Statement Captions [Line Items] |  |
Current market rates used in measuring fair value | 4.37%pten_MinimumPercentageOfFairValueTransactionsCorroboratedUsingObservableMarketInputsRequiredForLevelTwo / us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis = pten_SeriesBSeniorNotesFourPointTwoSevenPercentDueJuneFourteenTwentyTwentyTwoMember | 6.00%pten_MinimumPercentageOfFairValueTransactionsCorroboratedUsingObservableMarketInputsRequiredForLevelTwo / us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis = pten_SeriesBSeniorNotesFourPointTwoSevenPercentDueJuneFourteenTwentyTwentyTwoMember

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- Definition Minimum percentage of fair value transactions corroborated using observable market inputs required for level two. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Details
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