Stock-based Compensation - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($)	1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Apr. 30, 2022	Apr. 30, 2021	May 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021	Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019	Jun. 03, 2021
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Compensation expense					$ 750,000,000
Compensation expense foregoing limit					$ 1,000,000
Number of stock option granted				0		0	0
Outstanding non-vested restricted stock				3,200,000
Options outstanding				2,905,150	3,720,150
Employee Stock Option [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Options outstanding, aggregate intrinsic value				$ 100,000
weighted-average remaining contractual term				2 years 14 days
Performance Shares [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Performance period				3 years
Unrecognized compensation cost				$ 11,100,000
Weighted-average remaining vesting period				1 year 2 months 12 days
Performance Shares [Member] | Year Twenty Seventeen [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Compensation expense						$ 642,000
Shares issued			332,773
Performance Shares [Member] | Year Twenty Eighteen [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Compensation expense					$ 667,000	2,668,000
Shares issued		621,400
Performance Shares [Member] | Year Twenty Nineteen [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Compensation expense				$ 830,000	3,319,000	3,319,000
Shares issued	979,600
Phantom Share Units (PSUs) [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Awards vesting period			3 years
Performance completion year			2023
Grant date fair value			$ 1,200,000
Expense recognized				$ 6,000,000	$ 1,800,000	$ 600,000
Award description			Mr. Hendricks may earn from 0% to 200% of a target award of 298,500 phantom units based on our achievement of the same performance conditions over the same performance period that applies to the Performance Units granted in April 2020, as described above. Earned Phantom Units, if any, will be settled in 2023, following completion of the three-year performance period, in a cash payment equal to the number of earned phantom units multiplied by our average trading price per share over the twenty consecutive trading days ending March 31, 2023.
Option to Purchase [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Options outstanding				0
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Unrecognized compensation cost				$ 25,998,000
Weighted-average remaining vesting period				1 year 4 months 24 days
Chief Executive Officer And President [Member] | Phantom Share Units (PSUs) [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Non-vested restricted stock units outstanding at beginning of year			298,500
Chief Executive Officer And President [Member] | Maximum [Member] | Phantom Share Units (PSUs) [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of target award vesting righ			200.00%
Chief Executive Officer And President [Member] | Minimum [Member] | Phantom Share Units (PSUs) [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of target award vesting righ			0.00%
Two Thousand fourteen Long Term Incentive Plan
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares available for grant				0
Shares authorized for grant				0				4,900,000
Two Thousand fourteen Long Term Incentive Plan | Maximum [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Option term					10 years
Two Thousand fourteen Long Term Incentive Plan | Non Employee Director [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Awards vesting period					1 year
Two Thousand fourteen Long Term Incentive Plan | Employee [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Awards vesting period					3 years
Two Thousand Twenty One Long Term Incentive Plan
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares available for grant				3,689,156
Shares authorized for grant				13,467,480				13,500,000
Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. 2005 Long-Term Incentive Plan, as amended
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares available for grant				0
Shares authorized for grant				0
Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. 2005 Long-Term Incentive Plan, as amended | Non Employee Director [Member] | Employee Stock Option [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Awards vesting period					1 year
Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. 2005 Long-Term Incentive Plan, as amended | Employee [Member] | Employee Stock Option [Member]
Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award [Line Items]
Awards vesting period					3 years