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Debt and Interest Expense
 6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 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:
 June 30, 2024December 31, 2023
thousandsPrincipalCarrying
Value
Fair
Value (1)
PrincipalCarrying
Value
Fair
Value (1)
Short-term debt
Commercial paper$— $— $— $613,885 $610,312 $610,312 
Finance lease liabilities8,507 8,507 8,507 7,436 7,436 7,436 
Total short-term debt
$8,507 $8,507 $8,507 $621,321 $617,748 $617,748 
Long-term debt
3.100% Senior Notes due 2025
$663,831 $663,110 $652,898 $666,481 $665,145 $650,765 
3.950% Senior Notes due 2025
336,758 335,961 330,720 349,163 347,938 341,415 
4.650% Senior Notes due 2026
440,505 439,362 432,263 467,204 465,705 459,617 
4.500% Senior Notes due 2028
342,935 340,860 330,627 357,094 354,665 346,121 
4.750% Senior Notes due 2028
336,260 334,564 328,281 382,888 380,747 374,767 
6.350% Senior Notes due 2029
600,000 593,660 619,290 600,000 593,069 626,994 
4.050% Senior Notes due 2030
1,057,134 1,050,941 983,970 1,104,593 1,097,609 1,036,097 
6.150% Senior Notes due 2033
750,000 741,485 766,733 750,000 741,125 780,203 
5.450% Senior Notes due 2044
600,000 594,110 537,918 600,000 594,031 545,154 
5.300% Senior Notes due 2048
700,000 687,861 602,119 700,000 687,735 614,082 
5.500% Senior Notes due 2048
350,000 342,981 303,293 350,000 342,913 312,365 
5.250% Senior Notes due 2050
1,000,000 984,348 871,180 1,000,000 984,206 895,440 
Finance lease liabilities28,849 28,849 28,849 28,668 28,668 28,668 
Total long-term debt
$7,206,272 $7,138,092 $6,788,141 $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 six months ended June 30, 2024:
thousandsCarrying Value
Balance at December 31, 2023$7,901,304 
Commercial paper borrowings (repayments), net (1)
(610,312)
Repayment of 3.100% Senior Notes due 2025
(2,650)
Repayment of 3.950% Senior Notes due 2025
(12,405)
Repayment of 4.650% Senior Notes due 2026
(26,699)
Repayment of 4.500% Senior Notes due 2028
(14,159)
Repayment of 4.750% Senior Notes due 2028
(46,628)
Repayment of 4.050% Senior Notes due 2030
(47,459)
Finance lease liabilities1,252 
Other4,355 
Balance at June 30, 2024$7,146,599 
________________________________________________________________________________________
(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 June 30, 2024, and were 3.791%, 4.671%, and 5.869%, respectively, at June 30, 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 six months ended June 30, 2024, WES Operating purchased and retired $150.0 million of certain of its senior notes via open-market repurchases with cash from operations (see Debt activity above) and a gain of $5.4 million was recognized for the early retirement of portions of these notes. As of June 30, 2024, the 3.100% Senior Notes due 2025 and 3.950% 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.
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 June 30, 2024, WES Operating was in compliance with all covenants under the relevant governing indentures.
10. DEBT AND INTEREST EXPENSE

Revolving credit facility. In May 2024, WES Operating entered into an amendment to the RCF to exercise an option to extend the maturity date of the RCF from April 2028 to April 2029, for each extending lender. The non-extending lender’s commitments mature in April 2028 and represent $120.0 million out of $2.0 billion of total commitments from all lenders.
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 June 30, 2024, there were no outstanding borrowings and no outstanding letters of credit, resulting in $2.0 billion in effective borrowing capacity under the RCF. Any outstanding commercial paper borrowings (see below) reduce the effective borrowing capacity under the RCF as WES Operating maintains availability under the RCF as support for its commercial paper program. As of June 30, 2024 and 2023, the interest rate on any outstanding RCF borrowings was 6.64% and 6.44%, respectively. The facility-fee rate was 0.20% at June 30, 2024 and 2023. As of June 30, 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 June 30, 2024, there were no outstanding borrowings under the commercial paper program.

Interest expense. The following table summarizes the amounts included in interest expense:
 Three Months Ended 
June 30,		Six Months Ended 
June 30,
thousands2024202320242023
Long-term and short-term debt
$(88,850)$(85,088)$(184,806)$(166,239)
Finance lease liabilities(655)(230)(1,332)(393)
Commitment fees and amortization of debt-related costs(3,485)(3,414)(6,685)(6,295)
Capitalized interest 2,468 2,550 7,795 5,075 
Interest expense$(90,522)$(86,182)$(185,028)$(167,852)