Partnership Operations, Organization and Basis for Presentation (Details)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015 Segment Platform Fractionator Plant mi bbl ft3	Dec. 31, 2014
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Number of miles of onshore and offshore pipelines	51,000
Number of barrels of storage capacity	225,000,000epd_NumberOfBarrelsOfStorageCapacity
Number of cubic feet of storage capacity	14,000,000,000epd_NumberOfCubicFeetOfStorageCapacity
Number of natural gas processing plants	24epd_NumberOfNaturalGasProcessingPlants
Number of fractionators	22epd_NumberOfFractionators
Number of offshore hub platforms	6epd_NumberOfOffshoreHubPlatforms
Number of reportable segments	5us-gaap_NumberOfReportableSegments
Limited partners ownership interest (in hundredths)	100.00%
Unit split conversion ratio	2
Oiltanking Partners L.P. [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Limited partner interests acquired (in hundredths)		65.90%
EPCO and affiliates [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Percentage of Total Units Outstanding (in hundredths)	34.60%

Refers to number of barrels of storage capacity for petrochemicals, refined products and crude oil.

No definition available.

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- Definition

Refers to number of cubic feet of storage capacity.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Refers to number of fractionators.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Refers to number of miles of onshore and offshore pipelines as a part of assets of the entity.

+ References

No definition available.

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Refers to number of natural gas processing plants.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Refers to number of offshore hub platforms.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

The number of common units owned (as a percentage) by an affiliate under common control.

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Percentage of voting equity interests acquired in a business combination achieved in stages, including equity interests in the acquiree held by the acquirer immediately before the acquisition date and acquired at the acquisition date.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

The number of units or percentage investment held by one or more members or limited partners of the LLC or LP.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 272

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 3

-Subparagraph (b)

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- Definition

Number of segments reported by the entity. A reportable segment is a component of an entity for which there is an accounting requirement to report separate financial information on that component in the entity's financial statements.

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- Definition

Ratio applied to the conversion of stock split, for example but not limited to, one share converted to two or two shares converted to one.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Glossary Stock Split

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6525746

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-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 505

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 4

-Subparagraph (SAB TOPIC 4.C)

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