March 2013 and March 2012 Contract Operations Acquisitions (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended						1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended			9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2013 Common units	Sep. 30, 2012 Common units	Sep. 30, 2013 General partner units	Sep. 30, 2012 General partner units	Mar. 31, 2013 March 2013 Contract Operations Acquisition hp CompressorUnit customer	Sep. 30, 2013 March 2013 Contract Operations Acquisition	Mar. 31, 2013 March 2013 Contract Operations Acquisition Common units	Mar. 31, 2013 March 2013 Contract Operations Acquisition General partner units	Mar. 31, 2012 March 2012 Contract Operations Acquisition CompressorUnit hp customer	Sep. 30, 2012 March 2012 Contract Operations Acquisition
March 2013 and March 2012 Contract Operations Acquisition
Number of customers with service agreements								50				39
Number of compressor units used to provide compression services								363				406
Horsepower of compressor units used to provide compression services								256,000				188,000
Percentage of available horsepower of the combined U.S. contract operations business of Exterran Holdings and entity from service agreements acquired								8.00%				5.00%
Number of compressor units acquired								204				139
Horsepower of compressor units acquired								99,000				75,000
Horsepower of compressor units owned and used to provide service under contracts								6,000
Capacity of natural gas processing plant acquired (MMcf per day)												10
Net book value of fleet assets acquired								$ 158,500,000				$ 149,500,000
Accumulated depreciation of fleet assets acquired								94,900,000				67,000,000
Total consideration, excluding transaction costs								174,000,000				182,800,000
Long-term debt assumed in contract operations acquisitions			105,350,000									105,400,000
Cash paid			77,415,000									77,400,000
Units issued in connection with acquisition (in units)				7,123,527		144,644				7,123,527	144,644
Finite life intangible assets associated with customer relationships								3,100,000				5,000,000
Capital distributions		78,856,000	64,822,000	73,051,000	60,624,000	5,805,000	4,198,000		12,400,000				28,200,000
Pro Forma Financial Information
Revenue	111,436,000	359,668,000	328,233,000
Net income	14,219,000	56,807,000	8,196,000
Basic earnings per common unit (in dollars per unit)	$ 0.26	$ 1.03	$ 0.09
Diluted earnings per common unit (in dollars per unit)	$ 0.26	$ 1.03	$ 0.09
Additional pro forma reduction of net income allocable to the entity's limited partners	$ 200,000	$ 0	$ 600,000