| **NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION**            | 9 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
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| **NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION [Abstract]** |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| Nature of Operations                                          | NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION PDC Energy, Inc. ("PDC," "PDC Energy," "we," "us" or "the Company") is a domestic independent crude oil, natural gas and NGL company engaged in the exploration for and the acquisition, development, production and marketing of crude oil, natural gas and NGLs. PDC is focused operationally on the liquid-rich Wattenberg Field in the DJ Basin and, in the Appalachian Basin, on the liquid-rich Utica Shale and the dry-gas Marcellus Shale formations. As of September 30, 2013, we owned an interest in approximately 6,250 gross wells. We are engaged in two business segments: (1) Oil and Gas Exploration and Production and (2) Gas Marketing. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of PDC, our wholly owned subsidiaries, and our proportionate share of PDC Mountaineer, LLC ("PDCM") and our 21 affiliated partnerships. Pursuant to the proportionate consolidation method, our accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include our pro rata share of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses of the entities which we proportionately consolidate. All material intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. In our opinion, the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements contain all adjustments (consisting of only normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair presentation of our financial statements for interim periods in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("U.S. GAAP") and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X of the SEC. Accordingly, pursuant to such rules and regulations, certain notes and other financial information included in audited financial statements have been condensed or omitted. The information presented in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our 2012 Form 10-K. Our results of operations and cash flows for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year or any other future period. Certain reclassifications have been made to prior period financial statements to conform to the current year presentation. These reclassifications had no impact on previously reported cash flows, net income, earnings per share or shareholders' equity. |

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| - Definition
The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, the major products or services it sells or provides and its principal markets, including the locations of those markets. If the entity operates in more than one business, the disclosure also indicates the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination (for example, assets, revenues, or earnings).
+ References
Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 275 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6927468&loc=d3e6003-108592
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