2020 EMERGENCE FROM VOLUNTARY REORGANIZATION UNDER CHAPTER 11 - Additional Information (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands					8 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 03, 2020	Aug. 06, 2020	May 22, 2020	May 15, 2020 USD ($)	Aug. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2021 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2020 $ / shares	Sep. 01, 2020 $ / shares 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 participation 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.
Shares, Issued | shares								12,000,000
Common stock, par value | $ / shares						$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Conversion ratio						0.03460447
Proceeds from Warrant Exercises						$ 650,000
Class Or Warrants Or Rights, Additional Warrants Issued | shares						21,117
Contractual Interest Expense on Prepetition Liabilities Not Recognized in Statement of Operations					$ 12,400
Debt Instrument, Periodic Payment, Interest				$ 21,500
DIP credit facility [Member]
Percentage of Equity Allocated to Holders of Debtors			5.00%
Minimum
Substantial Stockholder Percentage	0.0475