Organization and Operations	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Notes to Financial Statements [Abstract]
Organization and Operations	NOTE A — ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONS We are a geographically diversified oil and gas services company, focused on completion fluids and associated products and services, water management, frac flowback, production well testing, offshore rig cooling, and compression services and equipment. Prior to March 2018, our operations also included selected offshore services including well plugging and abandonment, decommissioning, and diving, as well as a limited domestic oil and gas production business. We were incorporated in Delaware in 1981 and are composed of five reporting segments organized into four divisions – Fluids, Production Testing, Compression, and Offshore. Unless the context requires otherwise, when we refer to “we,” “us,” and “our,” we are describing TETRA Technologies, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries on a consolidated basis. Our Fluids Division manufactures and markets clear brine fluids, additives, and associated products and services to the oil and gas industry for use in well drilling, completion and workover operations in the United States and in certain countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The division also markets liquid and dry calcium chloride products manufactured at its production facilities or purchased from third-party suppliers to a variety of markets outside the energy industry. The Fluids Division also provides domestic onshore oil and gas operators with a wide variety of water management services. Our Production Testing Division provides frac flowback, production well testing, offshore rig cooling, and other associated services and early production facilities (EPFs) in many of the major oil and gas producing regions in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, as well as in oil and gas basins in certain regions in South America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Our Compression Division is a provider of compression services and equipment for natural gas and oil production, gathering, transportation, processing, and storage. The Compression Division's equipment sales business includes the fabrication and sale of standard compressor packages, custom-designed compressor packages and oilfield pump systems designed and fabricated at the division's facilities. The Compression Division's aftermarket business provides compressor package reconfiguration and maintenance services and compressor package parts and components manufactured by third-party suppliers. The Compression Division provides its services and equipment to a broad base of natural gas and oil exploration and production, midstream, transmission, and storage companies operating throughout many of the onshore producing regions of the United States, as well as in a number of foreign countries, including Mexico, Canada and Argentina. Our Offshore Division consists of two operating segments, both of which were disposed on March 1, 2018: Offshore Services and Maritech. The Offshore Services segment provided services primarily to the offshore oil and gas industry, consisting of: (1) downhole and subsea services, such as well plugging and abandonment and inspection, repair and maintenance services; (2) decommissioning and certain construction services utilizing heavy lift barges and various cutting technologies with regard to offshore oil and gas production platforms and pipelines; and (3) conventional and saturation diving services. The Maritech segment was a limited oil and gas production operation. During 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, Maritech sold substantially all of its oil- and gas-producing property interests. Maritech’s operations consisted primarily of the ongoing abandonment and decommissioning associated with its remaining offshore wells and production platforms.

NOTE A — ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONS

We are a geographically diversified oil and gas services company, focused on completion fluids and associated products and services, water management, frac flowback, production well testing, offshore rig cooling, and compression services and equipment. Prior to March 2018, our operations also included selected offshore services including well plugging and abandonment, decommissioning, and diving, as well as a limited domestic oil and gas production business. We were incorporated in Delaware in 1981 and are composed of five reporting segments organized into four divisions – Fluids, Production Testing, Compression, and Offshore. Unless the context requires otherwise, when we refer to “we,” “us,” and “our,” we are describing TETRA Technologies, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries on a consolidated basis.

Our Fluids Division manufactures and markets clear brine fluids, additives, and associated products and services to the oil and gas industry for use in well drilling, completion and workover operations in the United States and in certain countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The division also markets liquid and dry calcium chloride products manufactured at its production facilities or purchased from third-party suppliers to a variety of markets outside the energy industry. The Fluids Division also provides domestic onshore oil and gas operators with a wide variety of water management services.

Our Production Testing Division provides frac flowback, production well testing, offshore rig cooling, and other associated services and early production facilities (EPFs) in many of the major oil and gas producing regions in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, as well as in oil and gas basins in certain regions in South America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Australia.

Our Compression Division is a provider of compression services and equipment for natural gas and oil production, gathering, transportation, processing, and storage. The Compression Division's equipment sales business includes the fabrication and sale of standard compressor packages, custom-designed compressor packages and oilfield pump systems designed and fabricated at the division's facilities. The Compression Division's aftermarket business provides compressor package reconfiguration and maintenance services and compressor package parts and components manufactured by third-party suppliers. The Compression Division provides its services and equipment to a broad base of natural gas and oil exploration and production, midstream, transmission, and storage companies operating throughout many of the onshore producing regions of the United States, as well as in a number of foreign countries, including Mexico, Canada and Argentina.

Our Offshore Division consists of two operating segments, both of which were disposed on March 1, 2018: Offshore Services and Maritech. The Offshore Services segment provided services primarily to the offshore oil and gas industry, consisting of: (1) downhole and subsea services, such as well plugging and abandonment and inspection, repair and maintenance services; (2) decommissioning and certain construction services utilizing heavy lift barges and various cutting technologies with regard to offshore oil and gas production platforms and pipelines; and (3) conventional and saturation diving services.

The Maritech segment was a limited oil and gas production operation. During 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, Maritech sold substantially all of its oil- and gas-producing property interests. Maritech’s operations consisted primarily of the ongoing abandonment and decommissioning associated with its remaining offshore wells and production platforms.