Supplemental Guarantor/Non-Guarantor Financial Information Consolidating Balance Sheet (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 1,872,442	$ 1,757,699	$ 1,659,550	$ 1,578,904
Marketable securities	665,694	630,586
Accounts receivable, net	656,524	634,230
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,470,800	1,319,632
Income taxes receivable	37,904	74,957
Prepayments and other	59,946	53,161
Total current assets	4,763,310	4,470,265
Properties, plants and equipment, net	3,214,198	3,194,700
Marketable securities (long-term)	5,000	5,116
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,713,664	2,658,916
Total assets	10,696,172	10,328,997
Accounts payable	1,339,419	1,314,151
Income taxes payable	151,403	0
Accrued liabilities	127,005	195,077
Deferred income tax liabilities	149,127	145,216
Total current liabilities	1,766,954	1,654,444
Long-term debt	1,283,245	1,336,238
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	554,102	536,670
Other long-term liabilities	162,824	158,987
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,285,793	6,052,954
Equity – noncontrolling interest	643,254	589,704
Total liabilities and equity	10,696,172	10,328,997
Parent [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1,854,247	1,748,808	1,637,144	1,575,891
Marketable securities	665,685	630,579
Accounts receivable, net	4,766	4,788
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	(765,537)	(546,655)
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	37,904	74,957
Prepayments and other	22,859	21,867
Total current assets	1,819,924	1,934,344
Properties, plants and equipment, net	25,019	24,209
Marketable securities (long-term)	5,000	5,116
Investment in subsidiaries	5,909,650	5,251,396
Intangibles and other assets	17,096	11,825
Total assets	7,776,689	7,226,890
Accounts payable	68,099	1,941
Income taxes payable	151,403	0
Accrued liabilities	52,552	71,226
Deferred income tax liabilities	149,127	145,225
Total current liabilities	421,181	218,392
Long-term debt	460,374	460,254
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	549,151	530,544
Other long-term liabilities	57,168	48,757
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,288,815	5,968,943
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	7,776,689	7,226,890
Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	3,652	9,256	(3,358)
Marketable securities	9	7
Accounts receivable, net	650,601	627,262
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	499,248	285,291
Inventories	1,469,309	1,318,373
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	39,266	34,667
Total current assets	2,658,433	2,269,252
Properties, plants and equipment, net	2,468,535	2,444,398
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	175,693	74,120
Intangibles and other assets	2,334,619	2,284,329
Total assets	7,637,280	7,072,099
Accounts payable	1,294,946	1,336,097
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	63,281	105,298
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	1,358,227	1,441,395
Long-term debt	35,958	36,311
Liability to HEP	254,789	257,777
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	78,656	85,220
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	5,909,650	5,251,396
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	7,637,280	7,072,099
Non Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	2	2	2	2
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	7,763	0
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	266,289	261,364
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	0	0
Total current assets	274,054	261,366
Properties, plants and equipment, net	0	0
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	40,418	25,000
Total assets	314,472	286,366
Accounts payable	0	0
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	1,200	581
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	(9)
Total current liabilities	1,200	572
Long-term debt	0	0
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	1,175
Other long-term liabilities	0	0
Investment in HEP	137,579	210,499
Equity – HollyFrontier	175,693	74,120
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	314,472	286,366
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	(6,085,343)	(5,325,516)
Intangibles and other assets	(25,000)	(25,000)
Total assets	(6,110,343)	(5,350,516)
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	(25,000)	(25,000)
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	0	0
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	(6,085,343)	(5,325,516)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	(6,110,343)	(5,350,516)
Holly Frontier Corp. Before Consolidation Of HEP [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1,854,249	1,752,462	1,646,402	1,572,535
Marketable securities	665,694	630,586
Accounts receivable, net	663,130	632,050
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,469,309	1,318,373
Income taxes receivable	37,904	74,957
Prepayments and other	62,125	56,534
Total current assets	4,752,411	4,464,962
Properties, plants and equipment, net	2,493,554	2,468,607
Marketable securities (long-term)	5,000	5,116
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,367,133	2,296,154
Total assets	9,618,098	9,234,839
Accounts payable	1,363,045	1,338,038
Income taxes payable	151,403	0
Accrued liabilities	117,033	177,105
Deferred income tax liabilities	149,127	145,216
Total current liabilities	1,780,608	1,660,359
Long-term debt	471,332	471,565
Liability to HEP	254,789	257,777
Deferred income tax liabilities	549,151	531,719
Other long-term liabilities	135,824	133,977
Investment in HEP	137,579	210,499
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,288,815	5,968,943
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	9,618,098	9,234,839
Non-Guarantor Non-Restricted Subsidiaries (HEP Segment) [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	18,193	5,237	13,148	6,369
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	37,129	38,097
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,491	1,259
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	1,984	2,360
Total current assets	58,797	46,953
Properties, plants and equipment, net	1,005,577	1,014,556
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	363,998	365,291
Total assets	1,428,372	1,426,800
Accounts payable	12,346	12,030
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	14,135	23,705
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	26,481	35,735
Long-term debt	811,913	864,673
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	4,951	0
Other long-term liabilities	30,193	28,683
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	453,256	382,207
Equity – noncontrolling interest	101,578	115,502
Total liabilities and equity	1,428,372	1,426,800
Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	(43,735)	(35,917)
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	(4,163)	(5,733)
Total current assets	(47,898)	(41,650)
Properties, plants and equipment, net	(284,933)	(288,463)
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	(17,467)	(2,529)
Total assets	(350,298)	(332,642)
Accounts payable	(35,972)	(35,917)
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	(4,163)	(5,733)
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	(40,135)	(41,650)
Long-term debt	0	0
Liability to HEP	(254,789)	(257,777)
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	4,951
Other long-term liabilities	(3,193)	(3,673)
Investment in HEP	(137,579)	(210,499)
Equity – HollyFrontier	(456,278)	(298,196)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	541,676	474,202
Total liabilities and equity	$ (350,298)	$ (332,642)