Supplemental Guarantor/Non-Guarantor Financial Information Consolidating Balance Sheet (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014	Jun. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 233,359	$ 567,985	$ 1,118,302	$ 940,103
Marketable securities	392,859	474,110
Accounts receivable, net	626,107	589,905
Intercompany accounts receivable	0	0
Inventories	1,189,918	1,035,131
Income taxes receivable	8,351	11,719
Prepayments and other	68,945	104,148
Total current assets	2,519,539	2,782,998
Properties, plants and equipment, net	3,868,395	3,670,539
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,757,352	2,777,103
Total assets	9,145,286	9,230,640
Accounts payable	1,050,392	1,108,138
Intercompany accounts payable	0	0
Income tax payable	7,569	19,642
Accrued liabilities	113,246	106,214
Deferred income tax liabilities	69,284	17,409
Total current liabilities	1,240,491	1,251,403
Long-term debt	933,162	1,054,890
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	627,537	646,870
Other long-term liabilities	176,141	176,758
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	5,603,059	5,523,584
Equity – noncontrolling interest	564,896	577,135
Total liabilities and equity	9,145,286	9,230,640
Parent Company [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	222,905	565,080	1,108,232	931,920
Marketable securities	392,859	474,068
Accounts receivable, net	8,171	5,107
Intercompany accounts receivable	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	8,351	11,719
Prepayments and other	13,363	14,734
Total current assets	645,649	1,070,708
Properties, plants and equipment, net	34,079	31,808
Investment in subsidiaries	6,868,051	5,912,233
Intangibles and other assets	29,262	30,082
Total assets	7,577,041	7,044,831
Accounts payable	3,543	11,457
Intercompany accounts payable	1,160,797	568,881
Income tax payable	7,569	19,642
Accrued liabilities	41,886	41,403
Deferred income tax liabilities	69,284	17,409
Total current liabilities	1,283,079	658,792
Long-term debt	25,000	179,144
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	627,205	646,503
Other long-term liabilities	43,822	43,451
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	5,597,935	5,516,941
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	7,577,041	7,044,831
Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	3,777	1,817
Marketable securities	0	42
Accounts receivable, net	611,393	579,526
Intercompany accounts receivable	718,610	171,341
Inventories	1,187,984	1,033,191
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	59,273	95,194
Total current assets	2,577,260	1,879,294
Properties, plants and equipment, net	3,043,121	2,873,350
Investment in subsidiaries	335,342	291,912
Intangibles and other assets	2,371,616	2,388,844
Total assets	8,327,339	7,433,400
Accounts payable	1,067,290	1,117,429
Intercompany accounts payable	0	0
Income tax payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	50,843	45,331
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	1,118,133	1,162,760
Long-term debt	32,257	33,167
Liability to HEP	227,304	233,217
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	81,594	92,023
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	6,868,051	5,912,233
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	8,327,339	7,433,400
Non Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	30	75	227	14
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	3,068	3,774
Intercompany accounts receivable	442,187	397,540
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	0	0
Total current assets	445,285	401,389
Properties, plants and equipment, net	949	902
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	25,000	25,000
Total assets	471,234	427,291
Accounts payable	0	2
Intercompany accounts payable	0	0
Income tax payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	1,127	1,382
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	1,127	1,384
Long-term debt	0	0
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	0	0
Investment in HEP	134,765	133,995
Equity – HollyFrontier	335,342	291,912
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	471,234	427,291
Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Intercompany accounts receivable	(1,160,797)	(568,881)
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	0	0
Total current assets	(1,160,797)	(568,881)
Properties, plants and equipment, net	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	(7,203,393)	(6,204,145)
Intangibles and other assets	(25,000)	(25,000)
Total assets	(8,389,190)	(6,798,026)
Accounts payable	0	0
Intercompany accounts payable	(1,160,797)	(568,881)
Income tax payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	(1,160,797)	(568,881)
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	(7,203,393)	(6,204,145)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	(8,389,190)	(6,798,026)
Holly Frontier Corp. Before Consolidation Of HEP [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	222,935	565,155	1,112,236	933,751
Marketable securities	392,859	474,110
Accounts receivable, net	622,632	588,407
Intercompany accounts receivable	0	0
Inventories	1,187,984	1,033,191
Income taxes receivable	8,351	11,719
Prepayments and other	72,636	109,928
Total current assets	2,507,397	2,782,510
Properties, plants and equipment, net	3,078,149	2,906,060
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,400,878	2,418,926
Total assets	7,986,424	8,107,496
Accounts payable	1,070,833	1,128,888
Intercompany accounts payable	0	0
Income tax payable	7,569	19,642
Accrued liabilities	93,856	88,116
Deferred income tax liabilities	69,284	17,409
Total current liabilities	1,241,542	1,254,055
Long-term debt	32,257	187,311
Liability to HEP	227,304	233,217
Deferred income tax liabilities	627,205	646,503
Other long-term liabilities	125,416	135,474
Investment in HEP	134,765	133,995
Equity – HollyFrontier	5,597,935	5,516,941
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	7,986,424	8,107,496
Non-Guarantor Non-Restricted Subsidiaries (HEP Segment) [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	10,424	2,830	6,066	6,352
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	40,044	40,129
Intercompany accounts receivable	0	0
Inventories	1,934	1,940
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	2,804	2,443
Total current assets	55,206	47,342
Properties, plants and equipment, net	1,042,975	1,024,311
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	360,888	362,919
Total assets	1,459,069	1,434,572
Accounts payable	16,128	17,881
Intercompany accounts payable	0	0
Income tax payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	25,885	26,321
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	42,013	44,202
Long-term debt	900,905	867,579
Liability to HEP	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	332	367
Other long-term liabilities	56,283	47,170
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	365,071	380,172
Equity – noncontrolling interest	94,465	95,082
Total liabilities and equity	1,459,069	1,434,572
Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	$ 0	$ 0
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	(36,569)	(38,631)
Intercompany accounts receivable	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	(6,495)	(8,223)
Total current assets	(43,064)	(46,854)
Properties, plants and equipment, net	(252,729)	(259,832)
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	(4,414)	(4,742)
Total assets	(300,207)	(311,428)
Accounts payable	(36,569)	(38,631)
Intercompany accounts payable	0	0
Income tax payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	(6,495)	(8,223)
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	(43,064)	(46,854)
Long-term debt	0	0
Liability to HEP	(227,304)	(233,217)
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	(5,558)	(5,886)
Investment in HEP	(134,765)	(133,995)
Equity – HollyFrontier	(359,947)	(373,529)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	470,431	482,053
Total liabilities and equity	$ (300,207)	$ (311,428)