Related Party Transactions Asset Acquisitions and Non-cash Compensation Expenses (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012 Kinder Morgan, Inc. [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Kinder Morgan, Inc. [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 El Paso Natural Gas Company [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Tennessee Gas natural gas pipeline [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Related party contribution to partially offset selling expenses of assets held for sale			$ 45,000,000
Ownership interest					50.00%
Subsidiary debt indemnified by KMI						3,800,000,000
Equity method investment's debt indemnified by KMI					558,000,000
Related Party Transaction, Allocattion of Non-cash Compensation Expenses				90,000,000
Increase in expense due to one time special bonus		87,000,000		87,000,000
Increase in expense associated with initial public offering				3,000,000
Selling expenses related to assets held for sale	$ 78,000,000