Equity and Partners' Capital - Partnership Interests Table (Details) - Western Gas Partners, LP [Member] - shares			1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
		Mar. 14, 2016	Apr. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2016	Mar. 31, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016
Capital Unit [Line Items]
Balance					142,571,895	142,571,895
Units issued						748,562
Long-Term Incentive Plan award vestings						5,403
Balance						167,338,293
Over-Allotment Option [Member] | Private Investor [Member]
Capital Unit [Line Items]
Units issued						7,892,220
Springfield Pipeline LLC [Member]
Capital Unit [Line Items]
Acquisition						16,120,213
Common Units [Member]
Capital Unit [Line Items]
Balance					128,576,965	128,576,965
Long-Term Incentive Plan award vestings						5,403
Balance						130,671,970
Common Units [Member] | Springfield Pipeline LLC [Member]
Capital Unit [Line Items]
Units issued	[1]	2,089,602
Acquisition						2,089,602
Class C Units [Member]
Capital Unit [Line Items]
Balance					11,411,862	11,411,862
Units issued						748,562
Balance						12,160,424
Series A Preferred Units [Member]
Capital Unit [Line Items]
Balance					0	0
Balance						21,922,831
Series A Preferred Units [Member] | Private Investor [Member]
Capital Unit [Line Items]
Units issued		14,030,611			14,030,611
Series A Preferred Units [Member] | Over-Allotment Option [Member] | Private Investor [Member]
Capital Unit [Line Items]
Units issued			7,892,220	7,892,220		7,892,220
Series A Preferred Units [Member] | Springfield Pipeline LLC [Member]
Capital Unit [Line Items]
Units issued	[1]	14,030,611
Acquisition						14,030,611
General Partner [Member]
Capital Unit [Line Items]
Balance					2,583,068	2,583,068
Balance						2,583,068

[1] WES acquired Springfield Pipeline LLC (“Springfield”) from Anadarko for $750.0 million, consisting of $712.5 million in cash and the issuance of 1,253,761 of WES common units. Springfield owns a 50.1% interest in an oil gathering system and a gas gathering system, such interest being referred to in this report as the “Springfield interest.” The Springfield oil and gas gathering systems (collectively, the “Springfield system”) are located in Dimmit, La Salle, Maverick and Webb Counties in South Texas. WES financed the cash portion of the acquisition through: (i) borrowings of $247.5 million on the WES RCF, (ii) the issuance of 835,841 of WES common units to WGP and (iii) the issuance of WES Series A Preferred units to private investors. See Note 4 for further information regarding WES’s Series A Preferred units. WGP financed the purchase of the WES common units by borrowing $25.0 million on the WGP RCF. See Note 9.