Debt and Interest Expense (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2016

Debt Instruments [Abstract]

Debt Outstanding and Debt Activity Tables

The following table presents WES and WGP’s outstanding debt as of June 30, 2016, and December 31, 2015:

	June 30, 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		494,215		529,064		500,000		493,711		513,645
2022 Notes	670,000		668,532		658,273		670,000		668,432		595,744
2018 Notes	350,000		348,946		348,908		350,000		348,706		339,293
2044 Notes	400,000		389,783		384,252		400,000		389,707		321,499
2025 Notes	500,000		490,528		479,690		500,000		490,095		422,285
WES RCF	540,000		540,000		540,000		300,000		300,000		300,000
Total long-term debt	$	2,988,000	$	2,960,004	$	2,968,187	$	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 six months ended June 30, 2016:

thousands	Carrying Value
Balance at December 31, 2015	$	2,690,651
WES RCF borrowings	530,000
Repayments of WES RCF borrowings	(290,000		)
WGP RCF borrowings	28,000
Other	1,353
Balance at June 30, 2016	$	2,960,004

Interest Expense Table

The following table summarizes the amounts included in interest expense:

	Three Months Ended   June 30,						Six Months Ended   June 30,
thousands	2016			2015			2016			2015
Third parties
Long-term debt	$	28,472		$	24,733		$	56,328		$	48,075
Amortization of debt issuance costs and commitment fees	1,900			1,374			3,495			2,666
Capitalized interest	(1,482		)	(2,693		)	(3,331		)	(5,787		)
Total interest expense – third parties	28,890			23,414			56,492			44,954
Affiliates
WGP WCF	—			—			—			2
Deferred purchase price obligation – Anadarko (1)	(15,461		)	4,190			(10,924		)	5,610
Total interest expense – affiliates	(15,461		)	4,190			(10,924		)	5,612
Interest expense	$	13,429		$	27,604		$	45,568		$	50,566

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