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Related-Party Transactions
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2024
Related Party Fees and Other Arrangements, Limited Liability Company (LLC) or Limited Partnership (LP) [Abstract]  
Related-Party Transactions
6. RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Summary of related-party transactions. The following tables summarize material related-party transactions included in the Partnership’s consolidated financial statements:
Consolidated statements of operations
 Three Months Ended 
March 31,
thousands20242023
Revenues and other
Service revenues – fee based$489,729 $423,501 
Service revenues – product based14,057 8,116 
Product sales(3,977)17,168 
Total revenues and other499,809 448,785 
Equity income, net – related parties (1)
32,819 39,021 
Operating expenses
Cost of product (2)
(27,412)(3,947)
Operation and maintenance1,439 747 
General and administrative— 67 
Total operating expenses(25,973)(3,133)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
(1)See Note 7.
(2)Includes related-party natural-gas and NGLs imbalances.

Consolidated balance sheets
thousandsMarch 31,
2024		December 31,
2023
Assets
Accounts receivable, net$389,721 $358,141 
Other current assets3,277 1,260 
Equity investments (1)
546,078 904,535 
Other assets43,534 43,216 
Total assets982,610 1,307,152 
Liabilities
Accounts and imbalance payables38,739 38,541 
Accrued liabilities5,009 4,979 
Other liabilities (2)
362,604 335,320 
Total liabilities406,352 378,840 
_________________________________________________________________________________________
(1)See Note 7.
(2)Includes contract liabilities from contracts with customers. See Note 2.
6. RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Consolidated statements of cash flows
Three Months Ended 
March 31,
thousands20242023
Distributions from equity-investment earnings – related parties
$29,304 $39,609 
Contributions to equity investments – related parties— (110)
Distributions from equity investments in excess of cumulative earnings – related parties19,033 12,366 
Distributions to Partnership unitholders (1)
(111,689)(99,671)
Distributions to WES Operating unitholders (2)
(4,591)(4,271)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
(1)Represents common and general partner unit distributions paid to Occidental pursuant to the partnership agreement of the Partnership (see Note 4 and Note 5).
(2)Represents distributions paid to Occidental, through its ownership of WGRAH, pursuant to WES Operating’s partnership agreement (see Note 4 and Note 5).

The following tables summarize material related-party transactions for WES Operating (which are included in the Partnership’s consolidated financial statements) to the extent the amounts differ materially from the Partnership’s consolidated financial statements:
Consolidated statements of operations
 Three Months Ended 
March 31,
thousands20242023
General and administrative (1)
$1,306 $1,281 
_________________________________________________________________________________________
(1)Includes an intercompany service fee between the Partnership and WES Operating.

Consolidated balance sheets
thousandsMarch 31,
2024		December 31,
2023
Accounts receivable, net (1)
$407,881 $358,141 
Other current assets3,218 1,235 
Other assets40,108 41,405 
Accounts and imbalance payables
38,739 69,472 
Accrued liabilities4,692 4,662 
_________________________________________________________________________________________
(1)Includes balances related to transactions between the Partnership and WES Operating.

Consolidated statements of cash flows
Three Months Ended 
March 31,
thousands20242023
Distributions to WES Operating unitholders (1)
$(229,446)$(213,513)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
(1)Represents distributions paid to the Partnership and Occidental, through its ownership of WGRAH, pursuant to WES Operating’s partnership agreement. See Note 4 and Note 5.
6. RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Related-party revenues. Related-party revenues include amounts earned by the Partnership from services provided to Occidental and from the sale of natural gas, condensate, and NGLs to Occidental.

Gathering and processing agreements. The Partnership has significant gathering, processing, and produced-water disposal arrangements with affiliates of Occidental on most of its systems. While Occidental is the contracting counterparty of the Partnership, these arrangements with Occidental include not just Occidental-produced volumes, but also, in some instances, the volumes of other working-interest owners of Occidental who rely on the Partnership’s facilities and infrastructure to bring their volumes to market. Natural-gas throughput (excluding equity-investment throughput) attributable to production owned or controlled by Occidental was 31% and 35% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Crude-oil and NGLs throughput (excluding equity-investment throughput) attributable to production owned or controlled by Occidental was 89% and 88% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Produced-water throughput attributable to production owned or controlled by Occidental was 77% and 80% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
The Partnership is currently discussing varying interpretations of certain contractual provisions with Occidental regarding the calculation of the cost-of-service rates under an oil-gathering contract related to the Partnership’s DJ Basin oil-gathering system. If such discussions are resolved in a manner adverse to the Partnership, such resolution could have a negative impact on the Partnership’s financial condition and results of operations, including a reduction in rates and a non-cash charge to earnings.
In connection with the sale of its Eagle Ford assets in 2017, Anadarko remained the primary counterparty to the Partnership’s Brasada gas processing agreement and entered into an agency relationship with Sanchez Energy Corporation (“Sanchez”), subsequently Mesquite Energy, Inc. (“Mesquite”), that allowed Mesquite to process gas under such agreement. In December 2021, the Brasada gas processing agreement was assigned from Anadarko to Mesquite effective July 1, 2023. For this reason, Anadarko is not liable for any obligations under the Brasada gas processing agreement after June 30, 2023. For all periods presented, either Mesquite or its successor, a subsidiary of Javelin Energy Partners, performed Anadarko’s obligations under the Brasada gas processing agreement pursuant to its agency arrangement with Anadarko.

Marketing Transition Services Agreement. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Occidental provided marketing-related services to certain of the Partnership’s subsidiaries (the “Marketing Transition Services Agreement”). While the Partnership still has some marketing agreements with affiliates of Occidental, on January 1, 2021, the Partnership began marketing and selling substantially all of its crude oil, residue gas, and NGLs directly to third parties.

Related-party expenses. Operation and maintenance expense includes amounts accrued for or paid to related parties for field-related costs, shared field offices, and easements (see Related-party commercial agreement below) supporting the Partnership’s operations at certain assets. A portion of general and administrative expense is paid by Occidental, which results in related-party transactions pursuant to the reimbursement provisions of the Partnership’s and WES Operating’s agreements with Occidental. Cost of product expense includes amounts related to certain continuing marketing arrangements with affiliates of Occidental, related-party imbalances, and transactions with affiliates accounted for under the equity method of accounting. See Marketing Transition Services Agreement in the section above. Related-party expenses bear no direct relationship to related-party revenues, and third-party expenses bear no direct relationship to third-party revenues.

Services Agreement. Occidental performed certain centralized corporate functions for the Partnership and WES Operating pursuant to the agreement dated as of December 31, 2019, by and among Occidental, Anadarko, and WES Operating GP (“Services Agreement”). Most of the administrative and operational services previously provided by Occidental fully transitioned to the Partnership by December 31, 2021, with certain limited transition services remaining in place pursuant to the terms of the Services Agreement.
6. RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Construction reimbursement agreements and purchases and sales with related parties. From time to time, the Partnership enters into construction reimbursement agreements with Occidental providing that the Partnership will manage the construction of certain midstream infrastructure for Occidental in the Partnership’s areas of operation. Such arrangements generally provide for a reimbursement of costs incurred by the Partnership on a cost or cost-plus basis.
Additionally, from time to time, in support of the Partnership’s business, the Partnership purchases and sells equipment, inventory, and other miscellaneous assets from or to Occidental or its affiliates.

Related-party commercial agreement. During the first quarter of 2021, an affiliate of Occidental and certain wholly owned subsidiaries of the Partnership entered into a Commercial Understanding Agreement (“CUA”). Under the CUA, certain West Texas surface-use and salt-water disposal agreements were amended to reduce usage fees owed by the Partnership in exchange for the forgiveness of certain deficiency fees owed by Occidental and other unrelated contractual amendments. The present value of the reduced usage fees under the CUA was $30.0 million at the time the agreement was executed. Also, as a result of the amendments under the CUA, these agreements are classified as operating leases and a $30.0 million right-of-use (“ROU”) asset, included in Other assets on the consolidated balance sheets, was recognized during the first quarter of 2021. The ROU asset is being amortized to Operation and maintenance expense through 2038, the remaining term of the agreements.

Customer concentration. Occidental was the only customer from which revenues exceeded 10% of consolidated revenues for all periods presented in the consolidated statements of operations.