Discontinued Operations (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Aug. 31, 2019	Mar. 01, 2018
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Purchases of property, plant, and equipment, net	$ 29,386	$ 108,273	$ 141,931
Proceeds from sale of property, plant, and equipment	36,168	12,885	1,138
Discontinued Operation, Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operation Disclosures [Abstract]
Revenue	338,246	476,692	443,347
Cost of revenues	211,923	319,845	320,446
Depreciation, amortization, and accretion	80,533	76,715	72,585
Impairments and other charges	20,841
General and administrative expense	38,368	45,899	41,648
Interest expense, net	52,771	51,974	51,905
Other (income) expense, net	2,688	(323)	1,063
Pretax loss from discontinued operations	(68,878)	(18,727)	(43,567)
Pretax loss on disposal of discontinued operations		(7,500)	(34,072)
Total pretax loss from discontinued operations		(26,227)	(77,639)
Income tax provision	3,211	3,353	289
Loss from discontinued operations attributable to noncontrolling interest	47,898	13,538	22,623
Loss from discontinued operations attributable to TETRA stockholders	(24,191)	(16,042)	(55,305)
Carrying amounts of major classes of assets included as part of discontinued operations
Cash and cash equivalents	16,577	2,370
Trade receivables	43,837	64,724
Inventories	31,220	56,037
Other current assets	5,231	4,210
Current assets associated with discontinued operations (1)	710,006	127,341
Property, plant, and equipment	551,401	642,367
Other assets	61,740	52,991
Long-term assets associated with discontinued operations (1)	0	695,358
Total assets associated with discontinued operations(1)	710,006	822,699
Carrying amounts of major classes of liabilities included as part of discontinued operations
Trade payables	20,988	49,070
Unearned income	269	9,505
Accrued liabilities and other	36,898	43,887
Current liabilities associated with discontinued operations (1)	734,039	102,462
Long-term debt, net	638,631	638,238
Other liabilities	37,253	15,066
Long-term liabilities associated with discontinued operations (1)	0	653,304
Total liabilities associated with discontinued operations(1)	734,039	755,766
Series A Preferred Stock
Discontinued Operation, Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operation Disclosures [Abstract]
CCLP Series A Preferred Units fair value adjustment (income) expense		1,309	(733)
Compression [Member]
Discontinued Operation, Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operation Disclosures [Abstract]
Revenue	338,246	476,692	438,673
Cost of revenues	212,253	320,037	309,156
Depreciation, amortization, and accretion	80,533	76,663	70,500
Impairments and other charges	20,841
General and administrative expense	37,895	43,281	39,544
Interest expense, net	52,771	51,974	51,905
Other (income) expense, net	2,688	(558)	2,099
Pretax loss from discontinued operations	(68,735)	(16,014)	(33,798)
Carrying amounts of major classes of assets included as part of discontinued operations
Cash and cash equivalents	16,577	2,370
Trade receivables	43,837	64,724
Inventories	31,220	56,037
Other current assets	5,231	4,210
Current assets associated with discontinued operations (1)		127,341
Property, plant, and equipment	551,401	642,367
Other assets	61,740	52,991
Long-term assets associated with discontinued operations (1)		695,358
Total assets associated with discontinued operations(1)	96,865	822,699
Carrying amounts of major classes of liabilities included as part of discontinued operations
Trade payables	19,766	47,837
Unearned income	269	9,505
Accrued liabilities and other	36,318	43,022
Current liabilities associated with discontinued operations (1)		100,364
Long-term debt, net	638,631	638,238
Other liabilities	37,253	15,066
Long-term liabilities associated with discontinued operations (1)		653,304
Total liabilities associated with discontinued operations(1)	732,237	753,668
Compression [Member] | Series A Preferred Stock
Discontinued Operation, Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operation Disclosures [Abstract]
CCLP Series A Preferred Units fair value adjustment (income) expense		1,309	(733)
Offshore Services [Member]
Discontinued Operation, Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operation Disclosures [Abstract]
Revenue	0	0	4,487
Cost of revenues	(330)	(192)	11,151
Depreciation, amortization, and accretion	0	52	1,873
Impairments and other charges	0
General and administrative expense	473	2,618	1,917
Interest expense, net	0	0	0
Other (income) expense, net	0	117	(1,036)
Pretax loss from discontinued operations	(143)	(2,595)	(9,418)
Carrying amounts of major classes of assets included as part of discontinued operations
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0
Trade receivables	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Other current assets	0	0
Current assets associated with discontinued operations (1)		0
Property, plant, and equipment	0	0
Other assets	0	0
Long-term assets associated with discontinued operations (1)		0
Total assets associated with discontinued operations(1)	0	0
Carrying amounts of major classes of liabilities included as part of discontinued operations
Trade payables	1,222	1,233
Unearned income	0	0
Accrued liabilities and other	352	745
Current liabilities associated with discontinued operations (1)		1,978
Long-term debt, net	0	0
Other liabilities	0	0
Long-term liabilities associated with discontinued operations (1)		0
Total liabilities associated with discontinued operations(1)	1,574	1,978
Offshore Services [Member] | Series A Preferred Stock
Discontinued Operation, Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operation Disclosures [Abstract]
CCLP Series A Preferred Units fair value adjustment (income) expense		0	0
Maritech [Member]
Discontinued Operation, Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operation Disclosures [Abstract]
Revenue		0	187
Cost of revenues		0	139
Depreciation, amortization, and accretion		0	212
General and administrative expense		0	187
Interest expense, net		0	0
Other (income) expense, net		118	0
Pretax loss from discontinued operations		(118)	(351)
Carrying amounts of major classes of assets included as part of discontinued operations
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0
Trade receivables	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Other current assets	0	0
Current assets associated with discontinued operations (1)		0
Property, plant, and equipment	0	0
Other assets	0	0
Long-term assets associated with discontinued operations (1)		0
Total assets associated with discontinued operations(1)	0	0
Carrying amounts of major classes of liabilities included as part of discontinued operations
Trade payables	0	0
Unearned income	0	0
Accrued liabilities and other	228	120
Current liabilities associated with discontinued operations (1)		120
Long-term debt, net	0	0
Other liabilities	0	0
Long-term liabilities associated with discontinued operations (1)		0
Total liabilities associated with discontinued operations(1)	$ 228	120
Maritech [Member] | Series A Preferred Stock
Discontinued Operation, Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operation Disclosures [Abstract]
CCLP Series A Preferred Units fair value adjustment (income) expense		$ 0	$ 0
Offshore Division [Member] | Discontinued Operations, Disposed of by Sale [Member]
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Reserve, Other Receivables				$ 1,500
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Consideration, Additional Receivable					$ 7,500