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Debt and Interest Expense
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2022
Debt Instruments [Abstract]  
Debt and Interest Expense
13. DEBT AND INTEREST EXPENSE

WES Operating is the borrower for all outstanding debt and is expected to be the borrower for all future debt issuances. The following table presents the outstanding debt:
 December 31, 2022December 31, 2021
thousandsPrincipalCarrying
Value
Fair
Value (1)
PrincipalCarrying
Value
Fair
Value (1)
Short-term debt
Floating-Rate Senior Notes due 2023
$213,138 $213,121 $214,823 $— $— $— 
4.000% Senior Notes due 2022
— — — 502,246 502,138 505,153 
Finance lease liabilities2,659 2,659 2,659 3,794 3,794 3,794 
Total short-term debt
$215,797 $215,780 $217,482 $506,040 $505,932 $508,947 
Long-term debt
Floating-Rate Senior Notes due 2023
$— $— $— $213,138 $212,642 $213,072 
3.100% Senior Notes due 2025
730,706 727,953 692,491 732,106 728,096 764,815 
3.950% Senior Notes due 2025
399,163 396,825 379,107 399,163 395,928 418,506 
4.650% Senior Notes due 2026
474,242 472,161 452,201 474,242 471,629 516,473 
4.500% Senior Notes due 2028
400,000 396,698 368,346 400,000 396,145 437,673 
4.750% Senior Notes due 2028
400,000 397,340 368,141 400,000 396,938 444,550 
4.050% Senior Notes due 2030
1,200,000 1,191,345 1,053,038 1,200,000 1,190,339 1,323,595 
5.450% Senior Notes due 2044
600,000 593,878 503,742 600,000 593,733 717,804 
5.300% Senior Notes due 2048
700,000 687,494 580,570 700,000 687,265 844,223 
5.500% Senior Notes due 2048
350,000 342,783 291,194 350,000 342,659 418,907 
5.250% Senior Notes due 2050
1,000,000 983,945 829,804 1,000,000 983,709 1,183,514 
RCF375,000 375,000 375,000 — — — 
Finance lease liabilities4,160 4,160 4,160 1,533 1,533 1,533 
Total long-term debt
$6,633,271 $6,569,582 $5,897,794 $6,470,182 $6,400,616 $7,284,665 
_________________________________________________________________________________________
(1)Fair value is measured using the market approach and Level-2 fair value inputs.
13. DEBT AND INTEREST EXPENSE

Debt activity. The following table presents the debt activity for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021:
thousandsCarrying Value
Balance at December 31, 2020$7,854,702 
RCF borrowings480,000 
Repayments of RCF borrowings(480,000)
Repayment of 5.375% Senior Notes due 2021
(431,081)
Repayment of 4.000% Senior Notes due 2022
(78,671)
Repayment of Floating-Rate Senior Notes due 2023(26,840)
Repayment of 3.100% Senior Notes due 2025
(267,894)
Repayment of 3.950% Senior Notes due 2025
(100,837)
Repayment of 4.650% Senior Notes due 2026
(25,758)
Finance lease liabilities(26,582)
Other9,509 
Balance at December 31, 2021$6,906,548 
RCF borrowings1,390,000 
Repayments of RCF borrowings(1,015,000)
Repayment of 4.000% Senior Notes due 2022
(502,246)
Repayment of 3.100% Senior Notes due 2025
(1,400)
Finance lease liabilities1,493 
Other5,967 
Balance at December 31, 2022$6,785,362 

WES Operating Senior Notes. In mid-January 2020, WES Operating issued the Fixed-Rate 3.100% Senior Notes due 2025, 4.050% Senior Notes due 2030, and 5.250% Senior Notes due 2050 (collectively referred to as the “Fixed-Rate Senior Notes”) and the Floating-Rate Senior Notes due 2023 (the “Floating-Rate Senior Notes”). Including the effects of the issuance prices, underwriting discounts, and interest-rate adjustments, the effective interest rates of the Senior Notes due 2025, 2030, and 2050, were 3.790%, 4.671%, and 5.869%, respectively, at December 31, 2022, and were 4.542%, 5.424%, and 6.629%, respectively, at December 31, 2021. The interest rate on the Floating-Rate Senior Notes was 5.04% and 1.97% at December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The effective interest rate of these notes is subject to adjustment from time to time due to a change in credit rating.
During the second quarter of 2022, WES Operating (i) redeemed the total principal amount outstanding of the 4.000% Senior Notes due 2022 at par value and (ii) purchased and retired $1.4 million of the 3.100% Senior Notes due 2025 via open-market repurchases.
During the third quarter of 2021, WES Operating purchased and retired $500.0 million of certain of its senior notes via a tender offer (see Debt activity above). During the first quarter of 2021, WES Operating redeemed the total principal amount outstanding of the 5.375% Senior Notes due 2021 at par value, pursuant to the optional redemption terms in WES Operating’s indenture. For the year ended December 31, 2021, losses of $24.9 million were recognized for the early retirement of these notes.
As of December 31, 2022, the Floating-Rate Senior Notes were classified as short-term debt on the consolidated balance sheet, and in January 2023, WES Operating redeemed the total principal amount outstanding at par value with cash on hand. As of December 31, 2022, WES Operating was in compliance with all covenants under the relevant governing indentures.
13. DEBT AND INTEREST EXPENSE

Revolving credit facility. In June 2022, WES Operating entered into an amendment to its $2.0 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility (“RCF”), which is expandable to a maximum of $2.5 billion, to, among other things, (i) extend the maturity date applicable to the loans and commitments of certain lenders totaling $1.6 billion to February 2026, (ii) provide for the ability of WES Operating to extend the maturity date by one year on up to two additional occasions, (iii) provide that loans under the RCF with a fixed interest rate for a specified period bear interest based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) instead of the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), and (iv) include an additional level of pricing if WES Operating’s senior unsecured debt rating is less than or equal to BB/Ba2/BB (Standard and Poor’s / Moody’s Investors Service / Fitch Ratings). The non-extending lender’s commitments mature in February 2025 and represent $400.0 million out of $2.0 billion of total commitments from all lenders.
The RCF bears interest at an Adjusted Term SOFR (as defined in the RCF amendment), plus applicable margins ranging from 1.00% to 1.70%, or an alternate base rate equal to the greatest of (a) the Prime Rate, (b) the Federal Funds Effective Rate plus 0.50%, or (c) Adjusted Term SOFR for a one-month tenor in effect on such day plus 1.00%, in each case plus applicable margins currently ranging from zero to 0.70%, based on WES Operating’s senior unsecured debt rating. A required quarterly facility fee is paid ranging from 0.125% to 0.300% of the commitment amount (whether drawn or undrawn), which also is based on the senior unsecured debt rating.
As of December 31, 2022, there were $375.0 million of outstanding borrowings and $5.1 million of outstanding letters of credit, resulting in $1.6 billion of available borrowing capacity under the RCF. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the interest rate on any outstanding RCF borrowings was 5.92% and 1.60%, respectively. The facility-fee rate was 0.25% at December 31, 2022 and 2021. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding borrowings under the RCF were classified as long-term debt on the consolidated balance sheet and WES Operating was in compliance with all covenants under the RCF.

Term loan facility. In January 2020, WES Operating repaid the outstanding borrowings with proceeds from the issuance of the Fixed-Rate Senior Notes and Floating-Rate Senior Notes and terminated its $3.0 billion senior unsecured credit facility (“Term loan facility”). During the first quarter of 2020, a loss of $2.3 million was recognized for the early termination of the Term loan facility.

Interest-rate swaps. For the year ended December 31, 2020, WES Operating made cash payments totaling $25.6 million to settle interest rate swaps that were entered into in 2018 and 2019. These cash payments were classified as cash flows from operating activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows.

Finance lease liabilities. The Partnership subleased equipment from Occidental via finance leases through April 2020. During the first quarter of 2020, the Partnership entered into finance leases with third parties for equipment and vehicles. Certain of these equipment leases were amended during the third quarter of 2021 requiring reassessment of lease classification. As a result, these leases were classified as operating leases. See Note 14—Leases.

Interest expense. The following table summarizes the amounts included in interest expense:
Year Ended December 31,
thousands202220212020
Long-term and short-term debt
$(326,949)$(366,570)$(369,815)
Finance lease liabilities(414)(861)(1,516)
Commitment fees and amortization of debt-related costs(12,212)(12,705)(13,501)
Capitalized interest 5,636 3,624 4,774 
Interest expense$(333,939)$(376,512)$(380,058)