ACQUISITIONS AND DISPOSITIONS - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	3 Months Ended																12 Months Ended													1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended				1 Months Ended				3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended							1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011 MMbbl		Sep. 30, 2011		Jun. 30, 2011		Mar. 31, 2011		Dec. 31, 2010		Sep. 30, 2010		Jun. 30, 2010		Mar. 31, 2010		Dec. 31, 2011 mi MMbbl		Dec. 31, 2010		Dec. 31, 2009	Apr. 30, 2011	Nov. 19, 2010	Jan. 18, 2011 FRC Founders Corporation	Jan. 18, 2011 FRC Founders Corporation Class B Units	Dec. 31, 2011 Vopak Bahamas B.V.	Feb. 16, 2011 Vopak Bahamas B.V.	Feb. 16, 2011 Vopak Bahamas B.V. Limited Partner	Feb. 16, 2011 Vopak Bahamas B.V. Class B Units	Jan. 31, 2010 Pipelines & Terminals	Dec. 31, 2011 Pipelines & Terminals mi Property	Dec. 31, 2010 Pipelines & Terminals	Dec. 31, 2009 Pipelines & Terminals	Jan. 31, 2010 Pipeline and Terminal Assets mi	Jan. 13, 2011 4.875% Notes due February 1, 2021	Dec. 31, 2011 4.875% Notes due February 1, 2021		Jul. 19, 2011 Jetties and subsea pipelines mi	Jul. 19, 2011 Maine Terminals	Jul. 19, 2011 Portland bbl	Jul. 19, 2011 Bangor bbl	Jun. 30, 2011 Pipeline and Terminal Assets mi Property	Jun. 01, 2011 Pipeline and Terminal Assets MMbbl	Dec. 31, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited	Jan. 18, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited	Jan. 18, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited FRC Founders Corporation	Dec. 18, 2010 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited FRC Founders Corporation MMbbl	Jan. 18, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited FRC Founders Corporation Limited Partner	Jan. 18, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited FRC Founders Corporation Class B Units	Dec. 31, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited Vopak Bahamas B.V.	Feb. 16, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited Vopak Bahamas B.V.	Feb. 16, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited Vopak Bahamas B.V. Limited Partner	Feb. 16, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited Vopak Bahamas B.V. Class B Units	Jan. 19, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited Institutional Investors	Jan. 19, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited Institutional Investors Limited Partner	Jan. 19, 2011 Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited Institutional Investors Class B Units	Dec. 31, 2010 Puerto Rico Terminal Tank	Dec. 10, 2010 Puerto Rico Terminal MMbbl	Nov. 18, 2009 Refined Petroleum Products Terminals and Pipeline Assets	Nov. 18, 2009 Refined Petroleum Products Terminals and Pipeline Assets Pipelines & Terminals Property mi MMbbl	Dec. 31, 2011 West Shore Pipe Line Company	Aug. 02, 2010 West Shore Pipe Line Company	Jun. 30, 2010 West Shore Pipe Line Company	May 11, 2011 West Texas LPG Pipeline Limited Partnership mi
Schedule of Business Acquisitions, Purchase Price Allocation [Line Items]
Terminal acquisition																																																												$ 47,100,000
Percentage of ownership interests sold out																																																																20.00%
Percentage of First Reserve's indirect interest in FR Borco Coop Holdings, L.P.																																															80.00%
Completed acquisition of indirect interest, percentage																																								50.00%											20.00%
Inventory																																											1,161,000	1,645,000														867,000	7,287,000	7,287,000
Disposal value of ownership interests sold out																														22,000,000				22,000,000																														85,000,000
Pipeline																	6,100														6,100			350				124				650																		300				2,300
Active products terminals																															100											33																		3
Gain recognized on sale of ownership interest																																																																34,700,000
Terminal aggregate storage capacity																																								725,000	140,000		10																	2.3
Terminal acquisition																								1,147,681,000			276,506,000												23,500,000				165,976,000	1,424,187,000		1,147,681,000					276,500,000							32,770,000	54,433,000
Terminal acquisition, cash acquired																																																									3,500,000
Terminal, number of storage tanks																																																									44
Terminal, aggregate storage capacity	64																64																														21.6											4.6
Noncontrolling interest percentage	1.50%																1.50%									20.00%
Notes issued, aggregate principal amount	2,650,200,000								1,808,825,000								2,650,200,000		1,808,825,000																650,000,000	650,000,000	[1]
Percentage of notes issued in terms of principal amount																																			99.62%
Total proceeds from offering, net of underwriters' fees, expenses and debt issuance costs																																			642,600,000
Note offering, underwriters' fees, expenses and debt issuance costs																																			4,900,000
Limited partner units issued	19,951,498																19,951,498					5,520,000	19,951,498	2,483,444				620,861																				2,483,444				620,861			5,794,725
Class B units issued																									4,382,889				1,095,722																				4,382,889				1,095,722			1,314,870
Units issued, aggregate consideration amount																																														400,000,000					100,000,000			425,000,000
Equity issuance cost																	4,600,000																																	4,600,000
Repayment of all of BORCO's outstanding debt																																												318,167,000	318,167,000
Revenues																	4,759,610,000		3,151,268,000		1,770,372,000										631,289,000	574,990,000	529,243,000											177,600,000
Net income (loss)	59,687,000	[2]	(109,700,000)	[2]	92,021,000	[2]	66,493,000	[2]	8,362,000	[3]	11,941,000	[3]	11,507,000	[3]	11,270,000	[3]	108,501,000	[2]	43,080,000	[3]	49,594,000																							66,400,000
Ownership interest																																																														34.60%	24.90%
Payment to acquire equity investments																	$ 5,723,000		$ 13,512,000																																										$ 13,512,000

[1] We make semi-annual interest payments on these notes based on the rates noted above with the principal balances outstanding to be paid on or before the due dates as shown above.

[2] The second quarter of 2011 includes a gain of $34.1 million, and the fourth quarter of 2011 includes subsequent dividend income of $0.6 million related to the sale of our equity interest in WT LPG (see Note 3). The third quarter of 2011 includes a $169.6 million goodwill impairment expense associated with the Natural Gas Storage segment (see Note 9).

[3] The fourth quarter of 2010 includes $21.1 million of non-cash compensation expense related to the modification of an equity compensation plan (see Note 18).