| **Properties and Equipment Acreage exchange (Details) $ in Millions** | Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($) a |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------|
| Third Party 2 acreage to PDC [Member]                                 |                    |
| **Gas and Oil Acreage [Line Items]**                                  |                    |
| Gas and Oil Area, Developed, Gross                                    | 2,500                   |
| Cash, additional to acreage, received | $                             | $ 3.7                   |
| PDC acreage to Third Party 1 [Member] [Member]                        |                    |
| **Gas and Oil Acreage [Line Items]**                                  |                    |
| Gas and Oil Area, Developed, Gross                                    | 2,600                   |

| X                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Definition
Cash, additional to acreage, received
+ References
No definition available.
+ Details**Name:**pdce_Cashadditionaltoacreagereceived**Namespace Prefix:**pdce_**Data Type:**xbrli:monetaryItemType**Balance Type:**debit**Period Type:**instant |
| X                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Definition
Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.
+ References
No definition available.
+ Details**Name:**us-gaap_GasAndOilAcreageLineItems**Namespace Prefix:**us-gaap_**Data Type:**xbrli:stringItemType**Balance Type:**na**Period Type:**duration |
| X                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Definition
Area spaced or assigned to productive wells in which a working interest is owned.
+ References
Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-K (SK) -Number 229 -Section 1208 -Paragraph (a)
+ Details**Name:**us-gaap_GasAndOilAreaDevelopedGross**Namespace Prefix:**us-gaap_**Data Type:**num:areaItemType**Balance Type:**na**Period Type:**instant |
| X                                                                                                                                                                      |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Details**Name:**us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=pdce_ThirdParty1acreagetoPDCMember**Namespace Prefix:****Data Type:**na**Balance Type:****Period Type:** |
| X                                                                                                                                                                            |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Details**Name:**us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=pdce_PDCacreagetoThirdParty1MemberMember**Namespace Prefix:****Data Type:**na**Balance Type:****Period Type:** |