Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Basis of Presentation	Basis of Presentation The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Pioneer Energy Services Corp. and our wholly owned subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, which contemplate our continuation as a going concern. See Note 2, Going Concern and Subsequent Events, for more information. Periods Presented — We currently meet the SEC’s definition of a smaller reporting company and therefore qualify for certain reduced disclosure requirements as permitted by the SEC including, among other things, the presentation of the two most recent fiscal years’ statements of operations, shareholders’ equity, and cash flows.
Use of Estimates	Use of Estimates — In preparing the accompanying consolidated financial statements, we make various estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts of assets and liabilities we report as of the dates of the balance sheets and income and expenses we report for the periods shown in the income statements and statements of cash flows. Our actual results could differ significantly from those estimates. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant changes in the near term relate to our estimates of certain variable revenues and amortization periods of certain deferred revenues and costs associated with drilling daywork contacts, our estimates of projected cash flows and fair values for impairment evaluations, our estimate of the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets, our estimate of the liability relating to the self-insurance portion of our health and workers’ compensation insurance, and our estimate of compensation-related accruals.
Subsequent Events	Subsequent Events — In preparing the accompanying consolidated financial statements, we have reviewed events that have occurred after December 31, 2019, through the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for inclusion as necessary. See Note 2, Going Concern and Subsequent Events, for more information.
Change in Accounting Principle and Recently Issued Accounting Standards	Change in Accounting Principle and Recently Issued Accounting Standards Changes to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) are established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the form of Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC). We consider the applicability and impact of all ASUs. Any ASUs not listed below were assessed and determined to be either not applicable or are expected to have an immaterial impact on our consolidated financial position and results of operations. Leases. In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases, which among other things, requires lessees to recognize substantially all leases on the balance sheet, with expense recognition that is similar to the former lease standard, and aligns the principles of lessor accounting with the principles of the FASB’s new revenue guidance in ASC Topic 606. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-11, Leases: Targeted Improvements, which provides an option to apply the guidance prospectively, and provides a practical expedient allowing lessors to combine the lease and non-lease components of revenues where the revenue recognition pattern is the same and where the lease component, when accounted for separately, would be considered an operating lease. The practical expedient also allows a lessor to account for the combined lease and non-lease components under ASC Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, when the non-lease component is the predominant element of the combined component. As a lessor, we elected to apply the practical expedient which allows us to continue to recognize our revenues (both lease and service components) under ASC Topic 606, and continue to present them as one revenue stream in our consolidated statements of operations. As a lessee, this standard primarily impacts our accounting for long-term real estate and office equipment leases, for which we recognized an operating lease asset and a corresponding operating lease liability on our consolidated balance sheet of $9.8 million at the adoption date of January 1, 2019. For leases that commenced prior to adoption of ASC Topic 842, we elected to apply the package of practical expedients which allows us to carry forward the historical lease classification. The adoption of ASC Topic 842 also resulted in a cumulative effect adjustment of $0.3 million after applicable income taxes, related to the write off of previously unamortized deferred lease liabilities at the date of adoption. For more information about the accounting under ASC Topic 842, and disclosures under the new standard, see Note 4, Leases.
Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash	Cash and Cash Equivalents — Cash equivalents at December 31, 2019 and 2018 were $8.9 million and $40.6 million, respectively, consisting of investments in highly-liquid money-market mutual funds. Restricted Cash — Our restricted cash balance reflects the portion of net proceeds from the issuance of our senior secured term loan which are currently held in a restricted account until the completion of certain administrative tasks related to providing access rights to certain of our real property.
Trade Accounts Receivable	Trade and Unbilled Accounts Receivable — We record trade accounts receivable at the amount we invoice to our clients. These accounts do not bear interest. The allowance for doubtful accounts is our best estimate of the amount of probable credit losses in our accounts receivable as of the balance sheet date. We determine the allowance based on the credit worthiness of our clients and general economic conditions. Consequently, an adverse change in those factors could affect our estimate of our allowance for doubtful accounts.
Unbilled Accounts Receivable	Substantially all of our unbilled receivables represent revenues we have recognized in excess of amounts billed on drilling contracts. For more information, see Note 3, Revenue from Contracts with Customers.
Inventories	Inventories — Inventories primarily consist of drilling rig replacement parts and supplies held for use by our drilling operations in Colombia and supplies held for use by our wireline and coiled tubing operations. Inventories are valued at the lower of cost (first in, first out or actual) or net realizable value.
Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets	Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets — Prepaid expenses and other current assets include items such as insurance, rent deposits, software subscriptions, and other fees. We routinely expense these items in the normal course of business over the periods that we benefit from these expenses. Prepaid expenses and other current assets also include deferred mobilization costs for short-term drilling contracts.
Property and Equipment	Property and Equipment — Property and equipment are carried at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is provided for our assets over the estimated useful lives of the assets using the straight-line method. We record the same depreciation expense whether our equipment is idle or working. We charge our expenses for maintenance and repairs to operating costs. We capitalize expenditures for renewals and betterments to the appropriate property and equipment accounts. For more information, see Note 5, Property and Equipment.
Self Insurance Reserve [Policy Text Block]	Insurance Recoveries, Accrued Insurance Claims and Settlements, and Accrued Premiums and Deductibles — We use a combination of self-insurance and third-party insurance for various types of coverage. Our accrued premiums and deductibles include the premiums and estimated liability for the self-insured portion of costs associated with our health, workers’ compensation, general liability, and auto liability insurance. Our insurance recoveries receivables and our accrued liability for insurance claims and settlements represent our estimate of claims in excess of our deductible, which are covered and managed by our third-party insurance providers, some of which may ultimately be settled by the insurance provider in the long-term. These are presented in our consolidated balance sheets as current due to the uncertainty in the timing of reporting and payment of claims. For more information, see Note 11, Employee Benefit Plans and Insurance.
Treasury Stock	Treasury Stock — Treasury stock purchases are accounted for under the cost method whereby the cost of the acquired common stock is recorded as treasury stock. Gains and losses on the subsequent reissuance of treasury stock shares are credited or charged to additional paid in capital using the average cost method.
Stock-based Compensation	Stock-based Compensation — We recognize compensation cost for our stock-based compensation awards based on the fair value estimated in accordance with ASC Topic 718, Compensation—Stock Compensation, and we recognize forfeitures when they occur. For our awards with graded vesting, we recognize compensation expense on a straight-line basis over the service period for each separately vesting portion of the award as if the award was, in substance, multiple awards. For more information, see Note 10, Stock-Based Compensation Plans.
Income Taxes	Income Taxes — We follow the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes, under which we recognize deferred tax assets and liabilities for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax basis. We measure our deferred tax assets and liabilities by using the enacted tax rates we expect to apply to taxable income in the years in which we expect to recover or settle those temporary differences. The effect of a change in tax rates on deferred tax assets and liabilities is reflected in income in the period of enactment. For more information, see Note 7, Income Taxes.
Foreign Currencies	Foreign Currencies — Our functional currency for our foreign subsidiary in Colombia is the U.S. dollar. Nonmonetary assets and liabilities are translated at historical rates and monetary assets and liabilities are translated at exchange rates in effect at the end of the period. Income statement accounts are translated at average rates for the period. Gains and losses from remeasurement of foreign currency financial statements into U.S. dollars and from foreign currency transactions are included in other income or expense.
Comprehensive Income	Comprehensive Income — We have not reported comprehensive income due to the absence of items of other comprehensive income in the periods presented.
Reclassifications	Reclassifications — Certain amounts in the consolidated financial statements for the prior year has been reclassified to conform to the current year’s presentation.

Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Pioneer Energy Services Corp. and our wholly owned subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, which contemplate our continuation as a going concern. See Note 2, Going Concern and Subsequent Events, for more information.

Periods Presented — We currently meet the SEC’s definition of a smaller reporting company and therefore qualify for certain reduced disclosure requirements as permitted by the SEC including, among other things, the presentation of the two most recent fiscal years’ statements of operations, shareholders’ equity, and cash flows.

Use of Estimates

Use of Estimates — In preparing the accompanying consolidated financial statements, we make various estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts of assets and liabilities we report as of the dates of the balance sheets and income and expenses we report for the periods shown in the income statements and statements of cash flows. Our actual results could differ significantly from those estimates. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant changes in the near term relate to our estimates of certain variable revenues and amortization periods of certain deferred revenues and costs associated with drilling daywork contacts, our estimates of projected cash flows and fair values for impairment evaluations, our estimate of the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets, our estimate of the liability relating to the self-insurance portion of our health and workers’ compensation insurance, and our estimate of compensation-related accruals.

Subsequent Events

Subsequent Events — In preparing the accompanying consolidated financial statements, we have reviewed events that have occurred after December 31, 2019, through the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for inclusion as necessary. See Note 2, Going Concern and Subsequent Events, for more information.

Change in Accounting Principle and Recently Issued Accounting Standards

Changes to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) are established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the form of Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC). We consider the applicability and impact of all ASUs. Any ASUs not listed below were assessed and determined to be either not applicable or are expected to have an immaterial impact on our consolidated financial position and results of operations.

Leases. In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases, which among other things, requires lessees to recognize substantially all leases on the balance sheet, with expense recognition that is similar to the former lease standard, and aligns the principles of lessor accounting with the principles of the FASB’s new revenue guidance in ASC Topic 606. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-11, Leases: Targeted Improvements, which provides an option to apply the guidance prospectively, and provides a practical expedient allowing lessors to combine the lease and non-lease components of revenues where the revenue recognition pattern is the same and where the lease component, when accounted for separately, would be considered an operating lease. The practical expedient also allows a lessor to account for the combined lease and non-lease components under ASC Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, when the non-lease component is the predominant element of the combined component.

As a lessor, we elected to apply the practical expedient which allows us to continue to recognize our revenues (both lease and service components) under ASC Topic 606, and continue to present them as one revenue stream in our consolidated statements of operations. As a lessee, this standard primarily impacts our accounting for long-term real estate and office equipment leases, for which we recognized an operating lease asset and a corresponding operating lease liability on our consolidated balance sheet of $9.8 million at the adoption date of January 1, 2019. For leases that commenced prior to adoption of ASC Topic 842, we elected to apply the package of practical expedients which allows us to carry forward the historical lease classification. The adoption of ASC Topic 842 also resulted in a cumulative effect adjustment of $0.3 million after applicable income taxes, related to the write off of previously unamortized deferred lease liabilities at the date of adoption. For more information about the accounting under ASC Topic 842, and disclosures under the new standard, see Note 4, Leases.

Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash

Cash and Cash Equivalents — Cash equivalents at December 31, 2019 and 2018 were $8.9 million and $40.6 million, respectively, consisting of investments in highly-liquid money-market mutual funds.

Restricted Cash — Our restricted cash balance reflects the portion of net proceeds from the issuance of our senior secured term loan which are currently held in a restricted account until the completion of certain administrative tasks related to providing access rights to certain of our real property.

Trade Accounts Receivable

Trade and Unbilled Accounts Receivable — We record trade accounts receivable at the amount we invoice to our clients. These accounts do not bear interest. The allowance for doubtful accounts is our best estimate of the amount of probable credit losses in our accounts receivable as of the balance sheet date. We determine the allowance based on the credit worthiness of our clients and general economic conditions. Consequently, an adverse change in those factors could affect our estimate of our allowance for doubtful accounts.

Unbilled Accounts Receivable

Substantially all of our unbilled receivables represent revenues we have recognized in excess of amounts billed on drilling contracts. For more information, see Note 3, Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

Inventories

Inventories — Inventories primarily consist of drilling rig replacement parts and supplies held for use by our drilling operations in Colombia and supplies held for use by our wireline and coiled tubing operations. Inventories are valued at the lower of cost (first in, first out or actual) or net realizable value.

Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets

Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets — Prepaid expenses and other current assets include items such as insurance, rent deposits, software subscriptions, and other fees. We routinely expense these items in the normal course of business over the periods that we benefit from these expenses. Prepaid expenses and other current assets also include deferred mobilization costs for short-term drilling contracts.

Property and Equipment

Property and Equipment — Property and equipment are carried at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is provided for our assets over the estimated useful lives of the assets using the straight-line method. We record the same depreciation expense whether our equipment is idle or working. We charge our expenses for maintenance and repairs to operating costs. We capitalize expenditures for renewals and betterments to the appropriate property and equipment accounts. For more information, see Note 5, Property and Equipment.

Self Insurance Reserve [Policy Text Block]

Insurance Recoveries, Accrued Insurance Claims and Settlements, and Accrued Premiums and Deductibles — We use a combination of self-insurance and third-party insurance for various types of coverage. Our accrued premiums and deductibles include the premiums and estimated liability for the self-insured portion of costs associated with our health, workers’ compensation, general liability, and auto liability insurance. Our insurance recoveries receivables and our accrued liability for insurance claims and settlements represent our estimate of claims in excess of our deductible, which are covered and managed by our third-party insurance providers, some of which may ultimately be settled by the insurance provider in the long-term. These are presented in our consolidated balance sheets as current due to the uncertainty in the timing of reporting and payment of claims. For more information, see Note 11, Employee Benefit Plans and Insurance.

Treasury Stock

Treasury Stock — Treasury stock purchases are accounted for under the cost method whereby the cost of the acquired common stock is recorded as treasury stock. Gains and losses on the subsequent reissuance of treasury stock shares are credited or charged to additional paid in capital using the average cost method.

Stock-based Compensation

Stock-based Compensation — We recognize compensation cost for our stock-based compensation awards based on the fair value estimated in accordance with ASC Topic 718, Compensation—Stock Compensation, and we recognize forfeitures when they occur. For our awards with graded vesting, we recognize compensation expense on a straight-line basis over the service period for each separately vesting portion of the award as if the award was, in substance, multiple awards. For more information, see Note 10, Stock-Based Compensation Plans.

Income Taxes

Income Taxes — We follow the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes, under which we recognize deferred tax assets and liabilities for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax basis. We measure our deferred tax assets and liabilities by using the enacted tax rates we expect to apply to taxable income in the years in which we expect to recover or settle those temporary differences. The effect of a change in tax rates on deferred tax assets and liabilities is reflected in income in the period of enactment. For more information, see Note 7, Income Taxes.

Foreign Currencies

Foreign Currencies — Our functional currency for our foreign subsidiary in Colombia is the U.S. dollar. Nonmonetary assets and liabilities are translated at historical rates and monetary assets and liabilities are translated at exchange rates in effect at the end of the period. Income statement accounts are translated at average rates for the period. Gains and losses from remeasurement of foreign currency financial statements into U.S. dollars and from foreign currency transactions are included in other income or expense.

Comprehensive Income

Comprehensive Income — We have not reported comprehensive income due to the absence of items of other comprehensive income in the periods presented.

Reclassifications

Reclassifications — Certain amounts in the consolidated financial statements for the prior year has been reclassified to conform to the current year’s presentation.