Debt and Interest Expense (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Debt Instruments [Abstract]

Debt Outstanding and Debt Activity Tables

The following table presents WES and WGP’s outstanding debt as of March 31, 2016, and December 31, 2015:

	March 31, 2016						December 31, 2015
thousands	Principal		Carrying Value		Fair Value(1)		Principal		Carrying Value		Fair Value (1)
WGP RCF	$	28,000	$	28,000	$	28,000	$	—	$	—	$	—
2021 Notes	500,000		493,962		480,315		500,000		493,711		513,645
2022 Notes	670,000		668,482		597,975		670,000		668,432		595,744
2018 Notes	350,000		348,826		331,187		350,000		348,706		339,293
2044 Notes	400,000		389,744		313,752		400,000		389,707		321,499
2025 Notes	500,000		490,311		427,500		500,000		490,095		422,285
WES RCF	630,000		630,000		630,000		300,000		300,000		300,000
Total long-term debt	$	3,078,000	$	3,049,325	$	2,808,729	$	2,720,000	$	2,690,651	$	2,492,466

⁽¹⁾  Fair value is measured using the market approach and Level 2 inputs.

Debt activity. The following table presents WES and WGP’s debt activity for the three months ended March 31, 2016:

thousands	Carrying Value
Balance at December 31, 2015	$	2,690,651
WES RCF borrowings	330,000
WGP RCF borrowings	28,000
Other	674
Balance at March 31, 2016	$	3,049,325

Interest Expense Table

The following table summarizes the amounts included in interest expense:

	Three Months Ended   March 31,
thousands	2016			2015
Third parties
Long-term debt	$	27,856		$	23,342
Amortization of debt issuance costs and commitment fees	1,595			1,292
Capitalized interest	(1,849		)	(3,094		)
Total interest expense – third parties	27,602			21,540
Affiliates
WGP WCF	—			2
Deferred purchase price obligation – Anadarko (1)	4,537			1,420
Total interest expense – affiliates	4,537			1,422
Interest expense	$	32,139		$	22,962

⁽¹⁾  See Note 2 for a discussion of the accretion and net present value of the Deferred purchase price obligation - Anadarko.