Debt and Interest Expense - Interest Expense Table (details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands		3 Months Ended
		Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Interest expense	[1]	$ 22,962	$ 13,961	[2]
Third Parties [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Interest expense		21,540	13,961
Affiliated Entity [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Interest expense	[3]	1,422	0
Anadarko [Member] | Working Capital Facility [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Interest expense, related party		2	0
Western Gas Partners [Member] | Third Parties [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt		23,342	16,135
Amortization of debt issuance costs and commitment fees		1,292	1,266
Capitalized interest		(3,094)	(3,440)
Western Gas Partners [Member] | Affiliated Entity [Member] | Deferred Purchase Price Obligation - Anadarko [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Interest expense, related party	[4]	$ 1,420	$ 0

[1] Includes affiliate (as defined in Note 1) interest expense of $1.4 million and zero for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. See Note 2 and Note 9.

[2] Financial information has been recast to include the financial position and results attributable to the DBJV system. See Note 1 and Note 2.

[3] For the three months ended March 31, 2015, includes interest expense recognized on the WGP working capital facility (see Note 9) and WES’s accretion expense recognized on the Deferred purchase price obligation - Anadarko for the acquisition of DBJV (see Note 2 and Note 9).

[4] See Note 2 for a discussion of the accretion and present value of the Deferred purchase price obligation - Anadarko.