Supplemental Guarantor/Non-Guarantor Financial Information Consolidating Balance Sheet (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Sep. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 1,294,484	$ 1,757,699	$ 2,057,408	$ 2,057,408	$ 1,578,904
Marketable securities	656,749	630,586
Accounts receivable, net	755,672	634,230
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,548,173	1,319,632
Income taxes receivable	74,287	74,957
Prepayments and other	80,770	53,161
Total current assets	4,410,135	4,470,265
Properties, plants and equipment, net	3,312,255	3,194,700
Marketable securities (long-term)	5,415	5,116
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,770,839	2,658,916
Total assets	10,498,644	10,328,997
Accounts payable	1,615,970	1,314,151
Accrued liabilities	144,038	195,077
Deferred income tax liabilities	133,940	145,216
Total current liabilities	1,893,948	1,654,444
Long-term debt	999,884	1,336,238
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	658,143	536,670
Other long-term liabilities	150,519	158,987
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,174,159	6,052,954
Equity – noncontrolling interest	621,991	589,704
Total liabilities and equity	10,498,644	10,328,997
Parent [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1,283,263	1,748,808		2,053,324	1,575,891
Marketable securities	656,739	630,579
Accounts receivable, net	5,381	4,788
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	(1,393,289)	(546,655)
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	74,287	74,957
Prepayments and other	7,814	21,867
Total current assets	634,195	1,934,344
Properties, plants and equipment, net	28,187	24,209
Marketable securities (long-term)	5,415	5,116
Investment in subsidiaries	6,563,916	5,251,396
Intangibles and other assets	16,045	11,825
Total assets	7,247,758	7,226,890
Accounts payable	8,669	1,941
Accrued liabilities	58,450	71,226
Deferred income tax liabilities	133,940	145,225
Total current liabilities	201,059	218,392
Long-term debt	180,272	460,254
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	652,856	530,544
Other long-term liabilities	37,886	48,757
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,175,685	5,968,943
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	7,247,758	7,226,890
Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	3,652		2,089	(3,358)
Marketable securities	10	7
Accounts receivable, net	741,421	627,262
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	1,097,290	285,291
Inventories	1,546,535	1,318,373
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	78,318	34,667
Total current assets	3,463,574	2,269,252
Properties, plants and equipment, net	2,563,268	2,444,398
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	207,555	74,120
Intangibles and other assets	2,392,983	2,284,329
Total assets	8,627,380	7,072,099
Accounts payable	1,627,317	1,336,097
Accrued liabilities	70,121	105,298
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	1,697,438	1,441,395
Long-term debt	35,221	36,311
Liability to HEP	248,602	257,777
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	82,203	85,220
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,563,916	5,251,396
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	8,627,380	7,072,099
Non Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1	2		2	2
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	15,816	0
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	295,999	261,364
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	0	0
Total current assets	311,816	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	336,816	286,366
Accounts payable	1,799	0
Accrued liabilities	1,206	581
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	(9)
Total current liabilities	3,005	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	126,256	210,499
Equity – HollyFrontier	207,555	74,120
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	336,816	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	(6,771,471)	(5,325,516)
Intangibles and other assets	(25,000)	(25,000)
Total assets	(6,796,471)	(5,350,516)
Accounts 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	(6,771,471)	(5,325,516)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	(6,796,471)	(5,350,516)
Holly Frontier Corp. Before Consolidation Of HEP [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1,283,264	1,752,462		2,055,415	1,572,535
Marketable securities	656,749	630,586
Accounts receivable, net	762,618	632,050
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,546,535	1,318,373
Income taxes receivable	74,287	74,957
Prepayments and other	86,132	56,534
Total current assets	4,409,585	4,464,962
Properties, plants and equipment, net	2,591,455	2,468,607
Marketable securities (long-term)	5,415	5,116
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,409,028	2,296,154
Total assets	9,415,483	9,234,839
Accounts payable	1,637,785	1,338,038
Accrued liabilities	129,777	177,105
Deferred income tax liabilities	133,940	145,216
Total current liabilities	1,901,502	1,660,359
Long-term debt	190,493	471,565
Liability to HEP	248,602	257,777
Deferred income tax liabilities	652,856	531,719
Other long-term liabilities	120,089	133,977
Investment in HEP	126,256	210,499
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,175,685	5,968,943
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	9,415,483	9,234,839
Non-Guarantor Non-Restricted Subsidiaries (HEP Segment) [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	11,220	5,237		1,993	6,369
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	35,876	38,097
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,638	1,259
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	2,701	2,360
Total current assets	51,435	46,953
Properties, plants and equipment, net	998,557	1,014,556
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	363,376	365,291
Total assets	1,413,368	1,426,800
Accounts payable	13,001	12,030
Accrued liabilities	22,324	23,705
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	35,325	35,735
Long-term debt	809,391	864,673
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	5,287	0
Other long-term liabilities	33,139	28,683
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	432,081	382,207
Equity – noncontrolling interest	98,145	115,502
Total liabilities and equity	1,413,368	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	(42,822)	(35,917)
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	(8,063)	(5,733)
Total current assets	(50,885)	(41,650)
Properties, plants and equipment, net	(277,757)	(288,463)
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	(1,565)	(2,529)
Total assets	(330,207)	(332,642)
Accounts payable	(34,816)	(35,917)
Accrued liabilities	(8,063)	(5,733)
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	(42,879)	(41,650)
Long-term debt	0	0
Liability to HEP	(248,602)	(257,777)
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	4,951
Other long-term liabilities	(2,709)	(3,673)
Investment in HEP	(126,256)	(210,499)
Equity – HollyFrontier	(433,607)	(298,196)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	523,846	474,202
Total liabilities and equity	$ (330,207)	$ (332,642)