Gross Carrying Amount and Accumulated Amortization of Intangible Assets (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Acquired Finite Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	$ 104,954	$ 97,182
Accumulated Amortization	(27,029)	(21,583)
Net Carrying Amount	77,925	75,599
Customer Relationships
Acquired Finite Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	26,200	26,200
Accumulated Amortization	(4,126)	(1,943)
Net Carrying Amount	22,074	24,257
Developed Technology
Acquired Finite Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	55,772	48,000
Accumulated Amortization	(2,274)	(1,137)
Net Carrying Amount	53,498	46,863
Favorable Drilling Contracts
Acquired Finite Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	22,500	22,500
Accumulated Amortization	(20,583)	(18,482)
Net Carrying Amount	1,917	4,018
Internal Use Software
Acquired Finite Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	482	482
Accumulated Amortization	(46)	(21)
Net Carrying Amount	$ 436	$ 461

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.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Accumulated amount of amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

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

- Definition

Amount before amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

+ Details

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

- Definition

Amount after amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

+ Details

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_CustomerRelationshipsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_DevelopedTechnologyRightsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=pten_FavorableDrillingContractsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_ComputerSoftwareIntangibleAssetMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: