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

Description of terms of share-based payment arrangement. Includes, but is not limited to, type of award or grantee and reason for issuance.

+ 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=116856206&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=116856206&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=116856206&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_YearTwentySixteenMember
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	9 Months Ended
	Apr. 30, 2019	Sep. 30, 2019	Sep. 30, 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 \| 2016
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares issued	185,000
Performance Units Awards \| Condition One [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Award description		For the Performance Units granted in May 2017 and April 2018, 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. For the Performance Units granted in April 2019, the recipients will receive the target number of shares if the Company’s total shareholder return during the performance period, when compared to the peer group, is at the 55th 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.