Partnership Distributions - Additional Information (Details)	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2015
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Partnership agreement day requirement of distribution of available cash	55 days
Western Gas Partners, LP [Member]
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Partnership agreement day requirement of distribution of available cash	45 days
Western Gas Partners, LP [Member] \| Class C Units [Member]
Distribution Made to Limited Partner [Line Items]
Discount rate percentage	6.00%

Interest rate used to find the present value of an amount to be paid or received in the future as an input to measure fair value. For example, but not limited to, weighted average cost of capital (WACC), cost of capital, cost of equity and cost of debt.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (bbb)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=36462937&loc=d3e19207-110258

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueInputsDiscountRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration