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Debt and Interest Expense
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2024
Debt Instruments [Abstract]  
Debt and Interest Expense
10. 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:
 March 31, 2024December 31, 2023
thousandsPrincipalCarrying
Value
Fair
Value (1)
PrincipalCarrying
Value
Fair
Value (1)
Short-term debt
Commercial paper$100,000 $99,933 $99,933 $613,885 $610,312 $610,312 
Finance lease liabilities8,461 8,461 8,461 7,436 7,436 7,436 
Total short-term debt
$108,461 $108,394 $108,394 $621,321 $617,748 $617,748 
Long-term debt
3.100% Senior Notes due 2025
$663,831 $662,804 $649,658 $666,481 $665,145 $650,765 
3.950% Senior Notes due 2025
348,645 347,631 341,763 349,163 347,938 341,415 
4.650% Senior Notes due 2026
467,204 465,848 458,425 467,204 465,705 459,617 
4.500% Senior Notes due 2028
350,175 347,923 338,199 357,094 354,665 346,121 
4.750% Senior Notes due 2028
381,848 379,816 370,935 382,888 380,747 374,767 
6.350% Senior Notes due 2029
600,000 593,364 622,248 600,000 593,069 626,994 
4.050% Senior Notes due 2030
1,100,612 1,093,906 1,025,726 1,104,593 1,097,609 1,036,097 
6.150% Senior Notes due 2033
750,000 741,302 769,373 750,000 741,125 780,203 
5.450% Senior Notes due 2044
600,000 594,070 551,802 600,000 594,031 545,154 
5.300% Senior Notes due 2048
700,000 687,798 611,492 700,000 687,735 614,082 
5.500% Senior Notes due 2048
350,000 342,947 310,674 350,000 342,913 312,365 
5.250% Senior Notes due 2050
1,000,000 984,276 895,150 1,000,000 984,206 895,440 
Finance lease liabilities30,394 30,394 30,394 28,668 28,668 28,668 
Total long-term debt
$7,342,709 $7,272,079 $6,975,839 $7,356,091 $7,283,556 $7,011,688 
_________________________________________________________________________________________
(1)Fair value is measured using the market approach and Level-2 fair value inputs.
10. DEBT AND INTEREST EXPENSE

Debt activity. The following table presents the debt activity for the three months ended March 31, 2024:
thousandsCarrying Value
Balance at December 31, 2023$7,901,304 
Commercial paper borrowings (repayments), net (1)
(510,379)
Repayment of 3.100% Senior Notes due 2025
(2,650)
Repayment of 3.950% Senior Notes due 2025
(518)
Repayment of 4.500% Senior Notes due 2028
(6,919)
Repayment of 4.750% Senior Notes due 2028
(1,040)
Repayment of 4.050% Senior Notes due 2030
(3,981)
Finance lease liabilities2,751 
Other1,905 
Balance at March 31, 2024$7,380,473 
________________________________________________________________________________________
(1)Net of borrowings and repayments related to commercial paper notes with original maturities of 90 days or less.

WES Operating Senior Notes. WES Operating issued the Fixed-Rate 3.100% Senior Notes due 2025, 4.050% Senior Notes due 2030, 5.250% Senior Notes due 2050, and the Floating-Rate Senior Notes due 2023 in January 2020. 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 3.290%, 4.169%, and 5.363%, respectively, at March 31, 2024, and were 3.790%, 4.671%, and 5.869%, respectively, at March 31, 2023. The effective interest rate of these notes is subject to adjustment from time to time due to a change in credit rating.
During the three months ended March 31, 2024, WES Operating purchased and retired $15.1 million of certain of its senior notes via open-market repurchases with cash from operations (see Debt activity above) and a gain of $0.5 million was recognized for the early retirement of portions of these notes. As of March 31, 2024, the 3.100% Senior Notes due 2025 were classified as long-term debt on the consolidated balance sheet as WES Operating has the ability and intent to refinance these obligations using long-term debt. Subsequent to March 31, 2024, WES Operating purchased and retired $134.9 million of certain of its senior notes via open-market repurchases.
During the third quarter of 2023, WES Operating completed the public offering of $600.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 6.350% Senior Notes due 2029. Net proceeds from the offering were used to fund a portion of the aggregate purchase price for the Meritage acquisition (see Note 3), to pay related costs and expenses, and for general partnership purposes. During the second quarter of 2023, WES Operating completed the public offering of $750.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 6.150% Senior Notes due 2033. Net proceeds from the offering were used to repay borrowings under the RCF and for general partnership purposes. In addition, during 2023, WES Operating purchased and retired $276.7 million of certain of its senior notes via open-market repurchases and redeemed the total principal amount outstanding on the Floating-Rate Senior Notes due 2023 at par value with cash on hand.
As of March 31, 2024, WES Operating was in compliance with all covenants under the relevant governing indentures.
10. DEBT AND INTEREST EXPENSE

Revolving credit facility. In April 2023, WES Operating (i) repaid all then-outstanding borrowings under its RCF with proceeds from the 6.150% Senior Notes due 2033 offering, and (ii) entered into an amendment to its RCF to, among other things, extend the maturity date to April 2028 and provide for a maximum borrowing capacity up to $2.0 billion, expandable to a maximum of $2.5 billion, through the maturity date.
As of March 31, 2024, there were no outstanding borrowings and $0.5 million of outstanding letters of credit, resulting in $1.9 billion in effective borrowing capacity under the RCF, after taking into account the $100.0 million of outstanding commercial paper borrowings (see below), for which we maintain availability under the RCF as support for WES Operating’s commercial paper program. As of March 31, 2024 and 2023, the interest rate on any outstanding RCF borrowings was 6.63% and 6.21%, respectively. The facility-fee rate was 0.20% at March 31, 2024 and 2023. As of March 31, 2024, WES Operating was in compliance with all covenants under the RCF.

Commercial paper program. In November 2023, WES operating entered into an unsecured commercial paper program under which it may issue (and have outstanding at any one time) an aggregate principal amount up to $2.0 billion. WES Operating intends to maintain a minimum aggregate available borrowing capacity under the RCF equal to the aggregate amount of outstanding commercial paper borrowings. The maturities of the notes may vary, but may not exceed 397 days. As of March 31, 2024, there were $100.0 million aggregate principal amount of short-term notes outstanding under the commercial paper program at a weighted-average interest rate of 6.00% and weighted-average maturity of four days.

Interest expense. The following table summarizes the amounts included in interest expense:
 Three Months Ended 
March 31,
thousands20242023
Long-term and short-term debt
$(95,956)$(81,151)
Finance lease liabilities(677)(163)
Commitment fees and amortization of debt-related costs(3,200)(2,881)
Capitalized interest 5,327 2,525 
Interest expense$(94,506)$(81,670)