Emergence from Voluntary Reorganization Under Chapter 11 (Details)							8 Months Ended
	Feb. 11, 2021 USD ($)	Dec. 21, 2020 USD ($) shares	Sep. 03, 2020	Aug. 06, 2020	May 22, 2020	May 15, 2020 USD ($)	Aug. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2020 $ / shares	Sep. 01, 2020 $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2019 $ / shares
Bankruptcy Proceedings, Date Petition for Bankruptcy Filed					May 22, 2020
Bankruptcy Proceedings, Court Where Petition Was Filed					United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division
Plan of Reorganization, Date Plan Confirmed				Aug. 06, 2020
Plan of Reorganization, Date Plan is Effective			Sep. 03, 2020
Plan of Reorganization, Terms of Plan			Following emergence, we implemented the Plan as follows:•Each lender under the (i) the Unit credit agreement, and (ii) the DIP Credit Agreement received (or was entitled to receive) its pro rata share of revolving loans, term loans, and letter of credit participations under the Exit Credit Agreement, in exchange for the lender’s allowed claims under the Unit credit agreement or DIP Credit Agreement; •Each lender under the Unit credit agreement and the DIP Credit Agreement received its pro rata share of an equity fee under the exit facility equal to 5% of the New Common Stock (subject to dilution by shares reserved for issuance under a management incentive plan and upon exercise of the warrants described below); •The company issued a total of 12.0 million shares of New Common Stock at a par value of $0.01 per share to be subsequently distributed in accordance with the Plan; •Each holder of the Notes received its pro rata share of New Common Stock based on equity allocations at each of Unit, UDC, and UPC in exchange for the holder’s allowed Notes claim;•Each holder of an allowed general unsecured claim against Unit or UPC was entitled to receive its pro rata share of New Common Stock based on equity allocations at each of Unit and UPC, respectively; •A disputed claims reserve was established for distribution of New Common Stock on allowance of certain disputed general unsecured claims;•Each holder of an allowed general unsecured claim against UDC, 8200 Unit, Unit Drilling Colombia and Unit Drilling USA received payment or will receive payment in full for that claim in the ordinary course of business; and•Each retained or former employee with a claim for vested severance benefits, who opted into a settlement, received or will receive cash payment(s) for the claim in lieu of an allocation of New Common Stock otherwise provided to holders of general unsecured claims.
Warrants and Rights Outstanding, Maturity Date			Sep. 03, 2027
Stock and Warrants Issued During Period, Value, Preferred Stock and Warrants | $		$ 1,800,000
Class of Warrant or Right, Unissued | shares		37,000
Contractual Interest Expense on Prepetition Liabilities Not Recognized in Statement of Operations | $							$ 12,400,000
Debt Instrument, Periodic Payment, Interest | $						$ 21,500,000
Shares, Issued | shares									12,000,000.0
Common stock, par value | $ / shares								$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.20
Subsequent Event
Stock and Warrants Issued During Period, Value, Preferred Stock and Warrants | $	$ 43,000
Common Stock
Percentage of New Common Shares of the Reorganized Company					12.50%
DIP credit facility [Member]
Percentage of Equity Allocated to Holders of Debtors					5.00%
Minimum
Substantial Stockholder Percentage			0.0475
Notes Holders [Member]
Common Stock, Shares, Outstanding | shares		10,500,000
Disputed Claims Reserve [Member]
Common Stock, Shares, Outstanding | shares		900,000