Supplemental Guarantor/Non-Guarantor Financial Information Consolidating Balance Sheet (Details) (USD $)	Sep. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 2,057,408,000	$ 1,578,904,000	$ 1,582,859,000	$ 229,101,000
Marketable securities	280,409,000	211,639,000
Accounts receivable, net	736,874,000	708,857,000
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,485,450,000	1,114,619,000
Income taxes receivable	40,548,000	87,277,000
Prepayments and other	31,232,000	219,450,000
Total current assets	4,631,921,000	3,920,746,000
Properties, plants and equipment, net	3,119,932,000	3,052,905,000
Marketable securities (long-term)	5,519,000	50,067,000
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,588,564,000	2,552,525,000
Total assets	10,345,936,000	9,576,243,000
Accounts payable	1,530,714,000	1,504,694,000
Income taxes payable	150,899,000	40,366,000
Accrued liabilities	219,980,000	169,940,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	175,567,000	175,683,000
Total current liabilities	2,077,160,000	1,890,683,000
Long-term debt	1,346,227,000	1,214,742,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	399,205,000	463,721,000
Other long-term liabilities	163,848,000	171,197,000
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	5,764,276,000	5,204,010,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	595,220,000	631,890,000
Total liabilities and equity	10,345,936,000	9,576,243,000
Parent [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	2,053,324,000	1,575,891,000	1,554,831,000	230,082,000
Marketable securities	280,401,000	210,886,000
Accounts receivable, net	2,265,000	8,317,000
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	1,175,041,000	3,075,563,000
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	40,544,000	87,273,000
Prepayments and other	6,557,000	19,379,000
Total current assets	3,558,132,000	4,977,309,000
Properties, plants and equipment, net	22,483,000	26,702,000
Marketable securities (long-term)	5,519,000	50,067,000
Investment in subsidiaries	3,251,918,000	846,359,000
Intangibles and other assets	9,608,000	19,329,000
Total assets	6,847,660,000	5,919,766,000
Accounts payable	135,714,000	23,497,000
Income taxes payable	2,319,000	(109,320,000)
Accrued liabilities	87,232,000	53,390,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	191,958,000	192,073,000
Total current liabilities	417,223,000	159,640,000
Long-term debt	460,139,000	651,261,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	189,613,000	162,021,000
Other long-term liabilities	91,153,000	116,443,000
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	5,689,532,000	4,830,401,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	6,847,660,000	5,919,766,000
Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	2,089,000	(3,358,000)	8,724,000	(9,035,000)
Marketable securities	8,000	753,000
Accounts receivable, net	732,777,000	698,911,000
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	(1,431,906,000)	(3,373,844,000)
Inventories	1,484,217,000	1,113,136,000
Income taxes receivable	0	4,000
Prepayments and other	29,973,000	202,428,000
Total current assets	817,158,000	(1,361,970,000)
Properties, plants and equipment, net	2,108,183,000	2,026,105,000
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	280,048,000	295,902,000
Intangibles and other assets	2,215,337,000	2,242,197,000
Total assets	5,420,726,000	3,202,234,000
Accounts payable	1,424,692,000	1,494,790,000
Income taxes payable	148,580,000	149,686,000
Accrued liabilities	120,858,000	103,981,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	(16,381,000)	(16,390,000)
Total current liabilities	1,677,749,000	1,732,067,000
Long-term debt	27,704,000	54,070,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	203,766,000	295,893,000
Other long-term liabilities	92,733,000	52,892,000
Investment in HEP	166,856,000	220,953,000
Equity – HollyFrontier	3,251,918,000	846,359,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	5,420,726,000	3,202,234,000
Non Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	2,000	2,000	2,000	2,000
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	256,865,000	298,281,000
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	4,000	0
Prepayments and other	0	4,000
Total current assets	256,871,000	298,287,000
Properties, plants and equipment, net	0	0
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	(181,421,000)	(240,060,000)
Intangibles and other assets	25,000,000	0
Total assets	100,450,000	58,227,000
Accounts payable	4,000	359,000
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	954,000	1,170,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	(10,000)	0
Total current liabilities	948,000	1,529,000
Long-term debt	0	0
Deferred income tax liabilities	875,000	856,000
Other long-term liabilities	0	0
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	98,627,000	55,842,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	100,450,000	58,227,000
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	(3,350,545,000)	(902,201,000)
Intangibles and other assets	(25,000,000)	0
Total assets	(3,375,545,000)	(902,201,000)
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	(3,350,545,000)	(902,201,000)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	(3,375,545,000)	(902,201,000)
Holly Frontier Corp. Before Consolidation Of HEP [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	2,055,415,000	1,572,535,000	1,563,557,000	221,049,000
Marketable securities	280,409,000	211,639,000
Accounts receivable, net	735,042,000	707,228,000
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,484,217,000	1,113,136,000
Income taxes receivable	40,548,000	87,277,000
Prepayments and other	36,530,000	221,811,000
Total current assets	4,632,161,000	3,913,626,000
Properties, plants and equipment, net	2,130,666,000	2,052,807,000
Marketable securities (long-term)	5,519,000	50,067,000
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	2,224,945,000	2,261,526,000
Total assets	8,993,291,000	8,278,026,000
Accounts payable	1,560,410,000	1,518,646,000
Income taxes payable	150,899,000	40,366,000
Accrued liabilities	209,044,000	158,541,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	175,567,000	175,683,000
Total current liabilities	2,095,920,000	1,893,236,000
Long-term debt	487,843,000	705,331,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	394,254,000	458,770,000
Other long-term liabilities	158,886,000	169,335,000
Investment in HEP	166,856,000	220,953,000
Equity – HollyFrontier	5,689,532,000	4,830,401,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	0	0
Total liabilities and equity	8,993,291,000	8,278,026,000
Non-Guarantor Non-Restricted Subsidiaries (HEP Segment) [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1,993,000	6,369,000	19,302,000	8,052,000
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	42,832,000	37,290,000
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	1,233,000	1,483,000
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	3,080,000	2,246,000
Total current assets	49,138,000	47,388,000
Properties, plants and equipment, net	994,926,000	1,006,379,000
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	365,087,000	364,893,000
Total assets	1,409,151,000	1,418,660,000
Accounts payable	11,303,000	21,709,000
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	19,315,000	16,006,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	30,618,000	37,715,000
Long-term debt	874,434,000	598,761,000
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	7,574,000	4,000,000
Investment in HEP	0	0
Equity – HollyFrontier	396,644,000	679,182,000
Equity – noncontrolling interest	99,881,000	99,002,000
Total liabilities and equity	1,409,151,000	1,418,660,000
Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	(41,000,000)	(35,661,000)
Intercompany accounts receivable (payable)	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Income taxes receivable	0	0
Prepayments and other	(8,378,000)	(4,607,000)
Total current assets	(49,378,000)	(40,268,000)
Properties, plants and equipment, net	(5,660,000)	(6,281,000)
Marketable securities (long-term)	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intangibles and other assets	(1,468,000)	(73,894,000)
Total assets	(56,506,000)	(120,443,000)
Accounts payable	(40,999,000)	(35,661,000)
Income taxes payable	0	0
Accrued liabilities	(8,379,000)	(4,607,000)
Deferred income tax liabilities	0	0
Total current liabilities	(49,378,000)	(40,268,000)
Long-term debt	(16,050,000)	(89,350,000)
Deferred income tax liabilities	4,951,000	4,951,000
Other long-term liabilities	(2,612,000)	(2,138,000)
Investment in HEP	(166,856,000)	(220,953,000)
Equity – HollyFrontier	(321,900,000)	(305,573,000)
Equity – noncontrolling interest	495,339,000	532,888,000
Total liabilities and equity	$ (56,506,000)	$ (120,443,000)