Supplemental Guarantor/Non-Guarantor Financial Information Consolidating Statement of Cash Flows (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Mar. 31, 2013
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Intercompany accounts payable	$ 0
Cash flows from operating activities	394,929	248,563
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	(103,677)	(66,951)
Proceeds from sale of properties, plants, and equipment	0	2,290
Investment in Sabine Biofuels	1,000	0
Net repayment of advances to Sabine Biofuels	2,586	0
Purchases of marketable securities	(244,030)	(178,251)
Sales and maturities of marketable securities	253,676	143,280
Net Advances to Parent	0	0
Net cash used for investing activities	(113,049)	(104,645)
Proceeds from common unit offerings	0	146,888
Redemption of Senior Notes - HEP	(156,188)
Inventory repurchase obligation	21,126	0
Purchase of treasury stock	(13,988)	(6,610)
Contribution from General Partner		0
Dividends	(158,614)	(102,163)
Excess tax benefit from equity based compensation	5,156	744
Deferred financing costs and other	323	2,973
Net advances from subsidiaries	0	0
Net cash provided by (used for) financing activities	(147,348)	(29,175)
Increase (decrease) for the period	134,532	114,743
Beginning of period	940,103	1,757,699
End of period	1,074,635	1,872,442
Parent [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Intercompany accounts payable	783,715
Cash flows from operating activities	(23,564)	(56,933)
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	(3,163)	(1,736)
Proceeds from sale of properties, plants, and equipment		0
Investment in Sabine Biofuels	0
Net repayment of advances to Sabine Biofuels	0
Purchases of marketable securities	(244,030)	(178,251)
Sales and maturities of marketable securities	253,676	143,280
Net Advances to Parent	0	0
Net cash used for investing activities	6,483	(36,707)
Net repayments under credit agreement – HEP	0
Redemption of Senior Notes - HEP	0
Inventory repurchase obligation	0
Purchase of treasury stock	(13,988)	(6,610)
Contribution from General Partner		0
Dividends	(158,614)	(102,163)
Distributions to noncontrolling interest	0	0
Excess tax benefit from equity based compensation	5,156	744
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP	0
Deferred financing costs and other	0	0
Net advances from subsidiaries	320,185	233,664
Net cash provided by (used for) financing activities	152,739	199,079
Increase (decrease) for the period	135,658	105,439
Beginning of period	931,920	1,748,808
End of period	1,067,578	1,854,247
Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Intercompany accounts payable	0
Cash flows from operating activities	381,180	282,983
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	(100,483)	(65,215)
Proceeds from sale of properties, plants, and equipment		0
Investment in Sabine Biofuels	1,000
Net repayment of advances to Sabine Biofuels	2,586
Purchases of marketable securities	0	0
Sales and maturities of marketable securities	0	0
Net Advances to Parent	(302,773)	(224,667)
Net cash used for investing activities	(401,670)	(289,882)
Proceeds from common unit offerings		0
Net repayments under credit agreement – HEP	0
Redemption of Senior Notes - HEP	0
Inventory repurchase obligation	21,126
Purchase of treasury stock	0	0
Contribution from General Partner		0
Dividends	0	0
Distributions to noncontrolling interest	0	0
Excess tax benefit from equity based compensation	0	0
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP	0
Deferred financing costs and other	398	3,247
Net advances from subsidiaries	0	0
Net cash provided by (used for) financing activities	20,728	3,247
Increase (decrease) for the period	238	(3,652)
Beginning of period	1,817	3,652
End of period	2,055	0
Non Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Intercompany accounts payable	0
Cash flows from operating activities	17,477	10,496
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	(31)	0
Proceeds from sale of properties, plants, and equipment		0
Investment in Sabine Biofuels	0
Net repayment of advances to Sabine Biofuels	0
Purchases of marketable securities	0	0
Sales and maturities of marketable securities	0	0
Net Advances to Parent	(17,412)	(8,997)
Net cash used for investing activities	(17,443)	(8,997)
Proceeds from common unit offerings		0
Net repayments under credit agreement – HEP	0
Redemption of Senior Notes - HEP	0
Inventory repurchase obligation	0
Purchase of treasury stock	0	0
Contribution from General Partner		1,499
Dividends	0	0
Distributions to noncontrolling interest	0	0
Excess tax benefit from equity based compensation	0	0
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP	0
Deferred financing costs and other	(75)	0
Net advances from subsidiaries	0	0
Net cash provided by (used for) financing activities	75	(1,499)
Increase (decrease) for the period	109	0
Beginning of period	14	2
End of period	123	2
Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Intercompany accounts payable	(783,715)
Cash flows from operating activities	0	0
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	0	0
Proceeds from sale of properties, plants, and equipment		0
Investment in Sabine Biofuels	0
Net repayment of advances to Sabine Biofuels	0
Purchases of marketable securities	0	0
Sales and maturities of marketable securities	0	0
Net Advances to Parent	320,185	233,664
Net cash used for investing activities	320,185	233,664
Net borrowings under credit agreement – HEP		0
Proceeds from common unit offerings		0
Net repayments under credit agreement – HEP	0
Redemption of Senior Notes - HEP	0
Inventory repurchase obligation	0
Purchase of treasury stock	0	0
Contribution from General Partner		0
Dividends	0	0
Distributions to noncontrolling interest	0	0
Excess tax benefit from equity based compensation	0	0
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP	0	0
Deferred financing costs and other	0	0
Net advances from subsidiaries	320,185	233,664
Net cash provided by (used for) financing activities	(320,185)	(233,664)
Increase (decrease) for the period	0	0
Beginning of period	0	0
End of period	0	0
Holly Frontier Corp. Before Consolidation Of HEP [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Intercompany accounts payable	0
Cash flows from operating activities	375,093	236,546
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	(103,677)	(66,951)
Proceeds from sale of properties, plants, and equipment		0
Investment in Sabine Biofuels	1,000
Net repayment of advances to Sabine Biofuels	2,586
Purchases of marketable securities	(244,030)	(178,251)
Sales and maturities of marketable securities	253,676	143,280
Net Advances to Parent	0	0
Net cash used for investing activities	(92,445)	(101,922)
Proceeds from common unit offerings		73,444
Net repayments under credit agreement – HEP	0
Redemption of Senior Notes - HEP	0
Inventory repurchase obligation	21,126
Purchase of treasury stock	(13,988)	(6,610)
Contribution from General Partner		1,499
Dividends	(158,614)	(102,163)
Distributions to noncontrolling interest	0	0
Excess tax benefit from equity based compensation	5,156	744
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP	0
Deferred financing costs and other	323	3,247
Net advances from subsidiaries	0	0
Net cash provided by (used for) financing activities	(146,643)	(32,837)
Increase (decrease) for the period	136,005	101,787
Beginning of period	933,751	1,752,462
End of period	1,069,756	1,854,249
Non-Guarantor Non-Restricted Subsidiaries (HEP Segment) [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Intercompany accounts payable	0
Cash flows from operating activities	39,047	29,438
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	0	(5,013)
Proceeds from sale of properties, plants, and equipment		(2,290)
Investment in Sabine Biofuels	0
Net repayment of advances to Sabine Biofuels	0
Purchases of marketable securities	0	0
Sales and maturities of marketable securities	0	0
Net Advances to Parent	0	0
Net cash used for investing activities	(20,604)	(2,723)
Net borrowings under credit agreement – HEP		(53,000)
Proceeds from common unit offerings		73,444
Net repayments under credit agreement – HEP	174,700
Redemption of Senior Notes - HEP	(156,188)
Inventory repurchase obligation	0
Purchase of treasury stock	0	0
Contribution from General Partner		1,499
Dividends	0	0
Distributions to noncontrolling interest	(38,092)	(32,709)
Excess tax benefit from equity based compensation	0	0
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP	(336)	(2,719)
Deferred financing costs and other	0	(274)
Net advances from subsidiaries	0	0
Net cash provided by (used for) financing activities	(19,916)	(13,759)
Increase (decrease) for the period	(1,473)	12,956
Beginning of period	6,352	5,237
End of period	4,879	18,193
Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Intercompany accounts payable	0
Cash flows from operating activities	(19,211)	(17,421)
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	0	0
Proceeds from sale of properties, plants, and equipment		0
Investment in Sabine Biofuels	0
Net repayment of advances to Sabine Biofuels	0
Purchases of marketable securities	0	0
Sales and maturities of marketable securities	0	0
Net Advances to Parent	0	0
Net cash used for investing activities	0	0
Redemption of Senior Notes - HEP	0
Inventory repurchase obligation	0
Purchase of treasury stock	0	0
Contribution from General Partner		0
Dividends	0	0
Distributions to noncontrolling interest	19,211	17,421
Excess tax benefit from equity based compensation	0	0
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP	0	0
Deferred financing costs and other	0	0
Net advances from subsidiaries	0	0
Net cash provided by (used for) financing activities	19,211	17,421
Increase (decrease) for the period	0	0
Beginning of period	0	0
End of period	0	0
HEP [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	(20,604)	(5,013)
Net borrowings under credit agreement – HEP		(53,000)
Proceeds from common unit offerings		73,444
Net repayments under credit agreement – HEP	174,700
Distributions to noncontrolling interest	(18,881)	(15,288)
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP	(336)	(2,719)
Beginning of period	6,352
End of period	4,879
HEP [Member] | Parent [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	0	0
Net borrowings under credit agreement – HEP		0
Proceeds from common unit offerings		73,444
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP		0
HEP [Member] | Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	0	0
Net borrowings under credit agreement – HEP		0
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP		0
HEP [Member] | Non Guarantor Restricted Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	0	0
Net borrowings under credit agreement – HEP		0
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP		0
HEP [Member] | Holly Frontier Corp. Before Consolidation Of HEP [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	0	0
Net borrowings under credit agreement – HEP		0
Purchase of units for restricted grants - HEP		0
HEP [Member] | Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Additions to properties, plants and equipment	0	0
Net borrowings under credit agreement – HEP		0
Proceeds from common unit offerings		0
Net repayments under credit agreement – HEP	$ 0