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

No definition available.

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

- Definition

Stock issued during period shares issued for settlement.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	pten_StockIssuedDuringPeriodSharesIssuedForSettlement
Namespace Prefix:	pten_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

General descriptive information regarding an arrangement under which employees and directors receive: (a) awards of equity shares, equity share options, or other equity instruments; or (b) the entity incurs liabilities to them: (1) in amounts based, at least in part, on the price of the entity's shares or other equity instruments; or (2) that require or may require settlement by issuance of the entity's shares. Such an arrangement is usually provided to employees and directors to compensate them, provide performance incentives to them, and to attract or retain their services. May also include pertinent information particular to a plan that is not elsewhere specified in the taxonomy.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109197908&loc=d3e5047-113901

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

+ Details

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

- 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

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

+ 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 (c)(1)(iv)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109197908&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardOptionsGrantsInPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=us-gaap_PerformanceSharesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardDateAxis=pten_YearTwentyFifteenMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_VestingAxis=pten_ConditionOneMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Stock-based Compensation - Additional Information (Detail) - shares	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Apr. 30, 2018	Mar. 31, 2019	Mar. 31, 2018
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Number of stock option granted		0	0
Performance Units Awards
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Performance period		3 years
Performance Units Awards \| 2015
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares issued	381,200
Performance Units Awards \| Condition One [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Award description		Generally, the recipients will receive a target number of shares if the Company’s total shareholder return during the performance period, when compared to the peer group, is at the 50th percentile. If the Company’s total shareholder return during the performance period, when compared to the peer group, is at the 75th percentile or higher, then the recipients will receive two times the target number of shares.