Supplemental Guarantor/Non-Guarantor Financial Information Consolidating Balance Sheet (Details) (USD $)	Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 1,372,198,000	$ 1,578,904,000	$ 426,689,000	$ 229,101,000
Marketable securities	266,483,000	211,639,000
Accounts receivable, net	603,726,000	708,857,000
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,309,819,000	1,114,619,000
Income taxes receivable	93,648,000	87,277,000
Prepayments and other	59,818,000	219,450,000
Total current assets	3,705,692,000	3,920,746,000
Properties, plants and equipment, net	3,088,306,000	3,052,905,000
Marketable securities (long-term)	9,765,000	50,067,000
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,578,769,000	2,552,525,000
Total assets	9,382,532,000	9,576,243,000
Accounts payable	1,096,216,000	1,504,694,000
Income taxes payable	162,265,000	40,366,000
Accrued liabilities	133,818,000	169,940,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	169,386,000	175,683,000
Total current liabilities	1,561,685,000	1,890,683,000
Long-term debt	1,295,163,000	1,214,742,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	416,028,000	463,721,000
Other long-term liabilities	162,031,000	171,197,000
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	5,329,461,000	5,204,010,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	618,164,000	631,890,000
Total liabilities and equity	9,382,532,000	9,576,243,000
Parent [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1,366,416,000	1,575,891,000	414,141,000	230,082,000
Marketable securities	266,477,000	210,886,000
Accounts receivable, net	2,771,000	8,317,000
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	2,378,862,000	3,075,563,000
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	93,644,000	87,273,000
Prepayments and other	13,396,000	19,379,000
Total current assets	4,121,566,000	4,977,309,000
Properties, plants and equipment, net	20,116,000	26,702,000
Marketable securities (long-term)	9,765,000	50,067,000
Investment in subsidiaries	2,331,322,000	1,160,801,000
Intangibles and other assets	9,804,000	19,329,000
Total assets	6,492,573,000	6,234,208,000
Accounts payable	28,972,000	23,497,000
Income taxes payable	13,712,000	(109,320,000)
Accrued liabilities	67,237,000	53,390,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	185,777,000	192,073,000
Total current liabilities	295,698,000	159,640,000
Long-term debt	669,983,000	651,261,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	163,090,000	162,021,000
Other long-term liabilities	90,426,000	116,443,000
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	5,273,376,000	5,144,843,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	6,492,573,000	6,234,208,000
Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1,564,000	(3,358,000)	(1,656,000)	(9,035,000)
Marketable securities	6,000	753,000
Accounts receivable, net	600,822,000	699,056,000
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	(2,686,908,000)	(3,374,597,000)
Inventories	1,308,493,000	1,113,136,000
Income taxes receivable	0	4,000
Prepayments and other	47,437,000	202,428,000
Total current assets	(728,586,000)	(1,362,578,000)
Properties, plants and equipment, net	2,085,903,000	2,043,257,000
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	629,603,000	593,118,000
Intangibles and other assets	2,204,370,000	2,242,197,000
Total assets	4,191,290,000	3,515,994,000
Accounts payable	1,086,102,000	1,494,453,000
Income taxes payable	148,553,000	149,686,000
Accrued liabilities	48,259,000	103,636,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	(16,381,000)	(16,390,000)
Total current liabilities	1,266,533,000	1,731,385,000
Long-term debt	28,173,000	54,070,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	247,020,000	295,893,000
Other long-term liabilities	93,132,000	52,892,000
Investment in HEP	225,110,000	220,953,000
Equity – HollyFrontier	2,331,322,000	1,160,801,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	4,191,290,000	3,515,994,000
Non Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	2,000	3,102,000	12,802,000	7,651,000
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	1,051,000	3,074,000
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	308,046,000	299,034,000
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	4,000	0
Prepayments and other	1,043,000	1,089,000
Total current assets	310,146,000	306,299,000
Properties, plants and equipment, net	403,452,000	398,984,000
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	(244,218,000)	(240,060,000)
Intangibles and other assets	25,000,000	0
Total assets	494,380,000	465,223,000
Accounts payable	2,534,000	10,999,000
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	4,715,000	1,236,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	(10,000)	0
Total current liabilities	7,239,000	12,235,000
Long-term debt	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	967,000	856,000
Other long-term liabilities	0	0
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	486,174,000	452,132,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	494,380,000	465,223,000
Eliminations From Consolidation Of Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	0	0
Total current assets	0	0
Properties, plants and equipment, net	0	0
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	(2,716,707,000)	(1,513,859,000)
Intangibles and other assets	(25,000,000)	0
Total assets	(2,741,707,000)	(1,513,859,000)
Accounts payable	0	0
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	0	0
Long-term debt	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	(25,000,000)	0
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	(2,817,496,000)	(1,612,933,000)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	100,789,000	99,074,000
Total liabilities and equity	(2,741,707,000)	(1,513,859,000)
Holly Frontier Corp. Before Consolidation Of HEP [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1,367,982,000	1,575,635,000	425,287,000	228,698,000
Marketable securities	266,483,000	211,639,000
Accounts receivable, net	604,644,000	710,447,000
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,308,493,000	1,113,136,000
Income taxes receivable	93,648,000	87,277,000
Prepayments and other	61,876,000	222,896,000
Total current assets	3,703,126,000	3,921,030,000
Properties, plants and equipment, net	2,509,471,000	2,468,943,000
Marketable securities (long-term)	9,765,000	50,067,000
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,214,174,000	2,261,526,000
Total assets	8,436,536,000	8,701,566,000
Accounts payable	1,117,608,000	1,528,949,000
Income taxes payable	162,265,000	40,366,000
Accrued liabilities	120,211,000	158,262,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	169,386,000	175,683,000
Total current liabilities	1,569,470,000	1,903,260,000
Long-term debt	698,156,000	705,331,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	411,077,000	458,770,000
Other long-term liabilities	158,558,000	169,335,000
Investment in HEP	225,110,000	220,953,000
Equity – HollyFrontier	5,273,376,000	5,144,843,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	100,789,000	99,074,000
Total liabilities and equity	8,436,536,000	8,701,566,000
Non-Guarantor Non-Restricted Subsidiaries (HEP Segment) [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	4,216,000	3,269,000	1,402,000	403,000
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	30,169,000	34,071,000
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,326,000	1,483,000
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	2,084,000	1,161,000
Total current assets	37,795,000	39,984,000
Properties, plants and equipment, net	584,702,000	590,243,000
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	366,173,000	364,893,000
Total assets	988,670,000	995,120,000
Accounts payable	9,695,000	11,406,000
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	17,749,000	16,285,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	27,444,000	27,691,000
Long-term debt	613,195,000	598,761,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	6,195,000	4,000,000
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	341,836,000	364,668,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	988,670,000	995,120,000
Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	(31,087,000)	(35,661,000)
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	(4,142,000)	(4,607,000)
Total current assets	(35,229,000)	(40,268,000)
Properties, plants and equipment, net	(5,867,000)	(6,281,000)
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	(1,578,000)	(73,894,000)
Total assets	(42,674,000)	(120,443,000)
Accounts payable	(31,087,000)	(35,661,000)
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	(4,142,000)	(4,607,000)
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	(35,229,000)	(40,268,000)
Long-term debt	(16,188,000)	(89,350,000)
Deferred income tax liabilities	4,951,000	4,951,000
Other long-term liabilities	(2,722,000)	(2,138,000)
Investment in HEP	(225,110,000)	(220,953,000)
Equity – HollyFrontier	(285,751,000)	(305,501,000)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	517,375,000	532,816,000
Total liabilities and equity	$ (42,674,000)	$ (120,443,000)