Supplemental Guarantor/Non-Guarantor Financial Information Consolidating Balance Sheet (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Jun. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 1,349,420	$ 1,757,699	$ 1,372,198	$ 1,578,904
Marketable securities	632,715	630,586
Accounts receivable, net	770,805	634,230
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,550,443	1,319,632
Income taxes receivable	62,431	74,957
Prepayments and other	82,338	53,161
Total current assets	4,448,152	4,470,265
Properties, plants and equipment, net	3,257,831	3,194,700
Marketable securities (long-term)	3,393	5,116
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,784,558	2,658,916
Total assets	10,493,934	10,328,997
Accounts payable	1,593,370	1,314,151
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	135,033	195,077
Deferred income tax liabilities	151,288	145,216
Total current liabilities	1,879,691	1,654,444
Long-term debt	990,236	1,336,238
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	579,867	536,670
Other long-term liabilities	144,762	158,987
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,265,433	6,052,954
Equity – noncontrolling interest	633,945	589,704
Total liabilities and equity	10,493,934	10,328,997
Parent [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1,333,604	1,748,808	1,366,416	1,575,891
Marketable securities	632,706	630,579
Accounts receivable, net	7,188	4,788
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	(1,158,007)	(546,655)
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	62,431	74,957
Prepayments and other	15,169	21,867
Total current assets	893,091	1,934,344
Properties, plants and equipment, net	26,909	24,209
Marketable securities (long-term)	3,393	5,116
Investment in subsidiaries	6,399,298	5,251,396
Intangibles and other assets	15,557	11,825
Total assets	7,338,248	7,226,890
Accounts payable	76,278	1,941
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	50,167	71,226
Deferred income tax liabilities	151,288	145,225
Total current liabilities	277,733	218,392
Long-term debt	180,488	460,254
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	574,580	530,544
Other long-term liabilities	37,045	48,757
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,268,402	5,968,943
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	7,338,248	7,226,890
Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	7,098	3,652	1,564	(3,358)
Marketable securities	9	7
Accounts receivable, net	760,043	627,262
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	877,163	285,291
Inventories	1,548,660	1,318,373
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	70,142	34,667
Total current assets	3,263,115	2,269,252
Properties, plants and equipment, net	2,509,329	2,444,398
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	192,104	74,120
Intangibles and other assets	2,405,660	2,284,329
Total assets	8,370,208	7,072,099
Accounts payable	1,539,237	1,336,097
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	64,369	105,298
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	1,603,606	1,441,395
Long-term debt	35,596	36,311
Liability to HEP	251,764	257,777
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	79,944	85,220
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,399,298	5,251,396
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	8,370,208	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	11,202	0
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	280,844	261,364
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	0	0
Total current assets	292,048	261,366
Properties, plants and equipment, net	0	0
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	25,000	25,000
Total assets	317,048	286,366
Accounts payable	0	0
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	1,394	581
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	(9)
Total current liabilities	1,394	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	123,550	210,499
Equity – HollyFrontier	192,104	74,120
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	317,048	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	(6,591,402)	(5,325,516)
Intangibles and other assets	(25,000)	(25,000)
Total assets	(6,616,402)	(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	(6,591,402)	(5,325,516)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	(6,616,402)	(5,350,516)
Holly Frontier Corp. Before Consolidation Of HEP [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1,340,704	1,752,462	1,367,982	1,572,535
Marketable securities	632,715	630,586
Accounts receivable, net	778,433	632,050
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,548,660	1,318,373
Income taxes receivable	62,431	74,957
Prepayments and other	85,311	56,534
Total current assets	4,448,254	4,464,962
Properties, plants and equipment, net	2,536,238	2,468,607
Marketable securities (long-term)	3,393	5,116
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,421,217	2,296,154
Total assets	9,409,102	9,234,839
Accounts payable	1,615,515	1,338,038
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	115,930	177,105
Deferred income tax liabilities	151,288	145,216
Total current liabilities	1,882,733	1,660,359
Long-term debt	191,084	471,565
Liability to HEP	251,764	257,777
Deferred income tax liabilities	574,580	531,719
Other long-term liabilities	116,989	133,977
Investment in HEP	123,550	210,499
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,268,402	5,968,943
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	9,409,102	9,234,839
Non-Guarantor Non-Restricted Subsidiaries (HEP Segment) [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	8,716	5,237	4,216	6,369
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	36,121	38,097
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,783	1,259
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	2,531	2,360
Total current assets	49,151	46,953
Properties, plants and equipment, net	1,002,957	1,014,556
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	365,194	365,291
Total assets	1,417,302	1,426,800
Accounts payable	13,720	12,030
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	24,607	23,705
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	38,327	35,735
Long-term debt	799,152	864,673
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	5,287	0
Other long-term liabilities	30,770	28,683
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	444,600	382,207
Equity – noncontrolling interest	99,166	115,502
Total liabilities and equity	1,417,302	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	(43,749)	(35,917)
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	(5,504)	(5,733)
Total current assets	(49,253)	(41,650)
Properties, plants and equipment, net	(281,364)	(288,463)
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	(1,853)	(2,529)
Total assets	(332,470)	(332,642)
Accounts payable	(35,865)	(35,917)
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	(5,504)	(5,733)
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	(41,369)	(41,650)
Long-term debt	0	0
Liability to HEP	(251,764)	(257,777)
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	4,951
Other long-term liabilities	(2,997)	(3,673)
Investment in HEP	(123,550)	(210,499)
Equity – HollyFrontier	(447,569)	(298,196)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	534,779	474,202
Total liabilities and equity	$ (332,470)	$ (332,642)