| **NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION**            | 6 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. (the "Company," "we," "us," or "our") is a domestic independent exploration and production company that produces, develops, acquires and explores for crude oil, natural gas and NGLs, with primary operations in the Wattenberg Field in Colorado and the Utica Shale in southeastern Ohio. Our operations in the Wattenberg Field are focused in the horizontal Niobrara and Codell plays and our Ohio operations are focused in the Utica Shale play. As of June 30, 2016, we owned an interest in approximately 3,000 gross wells. We are engaged in two business segments: Oil and Gas Exploration and Production and Gas Marketing.The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of PDC, our wholly-owned subsidiary Riley Natural Gas ("RNG") and our proportionate share of our four 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 statement 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 December 31, 2015 condensed consolidated balance sheet data was derived from audited statements, but does not include disclosures required by U.S. GAAP. 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 2015 Form 10-K. Our results of operations and cash flows for the three and six months ended June 30, 2016 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year or any other future period. |

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NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION [Abstract]
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The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, major products or services, principal markets including location, and the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination, including but not limited to, assets, revenues, or earnings. For an entity that has not commenced principal operations, disclosures about the risks and uncertainties related to the activities in which the entity is currently engaged and an understanding of what those activities are being directed toward.
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