Debt, Financing Arrangements, and Leases (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			0 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Oct. 02, 2009	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Oct. 02, 2009 Minimum [Member]	Oct. 02, 2009 Maximum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Williams Partners L.P. [Member]	Jul. 31, 2013 $2.4 billion credit facility [Member] Williams Partners L.P. [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 $2.5 billion credit facility [Member]	Jul. 31, 2013 $2.5 billion credit facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 $2.5 billion credit facility [Member] Williams Partners L.P. [Member]	Jul. 31, 2013 $2.5 billion credit facility [Member] Williams Partners L.P. [Member]	Jul. 31, 2013 $2.5 billion credit facility [Member] Williams Partners L.P. [Member] Letter of credit [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Commercial paper [Member] Williams Partners L.P. [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 5.95% senior unsecured notes due 2017 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 5.95% senior unsecured notes due 2017 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 6.05% senior unsecured notes due 2018 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 6.05% senior unsecured notes due 2018 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 7% senior unsecured notes due 2016 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 7% senior unsecured notes due 2016 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 7.125% unsecured debentures due 2025 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 7.125% unsecured debentures due 2025 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term Debt		$ 694,224,000	$ 694,027,000												$ 184,790,000	$ 184,726,000	$ 249,705,000	$ 249,639,000	$ 174,864,000	$ 174,809,000	$ 84,865,000	$ 84,853,000
Maturities of long-term debt
2016: 7% senior unsecured notes		175,000,000
2017: 5.95% senior unsecured notes		185,000,000
2018: 6.05% senior unsecured notes		250,000,000
Total		610,000,000
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity								2,400,000,000		500,000,000		2,500,000,000	1,300,000,000	2,000,000,000
Additional amount by which credit facility can be increased												500,000,000
Letters of credit outstanding, amount											0
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding											0
Line of credit facility, remaining borrowing capacity									500,000,000
Debt to EBITDA, ratio											5.0
Debt to EBITDA, after acquisitions, ratio											5.5
Purchase price of acquistions increasing debt to EBITDA ratio, aggregate											50,000,000
Ratio of indebtedness to net capital		0.65
Line of credit facility, unused capacity, commitment fee percentage									0.20%
Commercial paper							225,000,000
Lease, initial term	10 years
Lease, renewal term					5 years	10 years
Leases [Abstract]
2014		2,344,000
2015		2,370,000
2016		2,396,000
2017		2,423,000
2018		2,449,000
Thereafter		2,463,000
Total		14,445,000
Operating Leases, Rent Expense, Net [Abstract]
Operating lease rent expense, net of sublease revenues		$ 2,300,000	$ 2,200,000	$ 2,400,000