Capital expenditures made to expand the existing operating and/or earnings capacity of the entity's assets.

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- Definition

The interest expense incurred related to hedged inventory purchases, which is included in segment profit.

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Capital expenditures for the replacement of partially or fully depreciated assets in order to maintain the operating and/or earnings capacity of the company's existing assets.

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No definition available.

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Sum of the carrying amounts as of the balance sheet date of all assets that are recognized. Assets are probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by an entity as a result of past transactions or events.

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This item represents the carrying amount on the entity's balance sheet of its investment in common stock of an equity method investee. This is not an indicator of the fair value of the investment, rather it is the initial cost adjusted for the entity's share of earnings and losses of the investee, adjusted for any distributions (dividends) and other than temporary impairment (OTTI) losses recognized.

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Aggregate revenue less cost of goods and services sold or operating expenses directly attributable to the revenue generation activity.

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This item represents the entity's proportionate share for the period of the net income (loss) of its investee (such as unconsolidated subsidiaries and joint ventures) to which the equity method of accounting is applied. This item includes income or expense related to stock-based compensation based on the investor's grant of stock to employees of an equity method investee.

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Number of operating segments. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise: (a) that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same enterprise), (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (c) for which discrete financial information is available. An operating segment may engage in business activities for which it has yet to earn revenues, for example, start-up operations may be operating segments before earning revenues.

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Amount of revenue recognized from goods sold, services rendered, insurance premiums, or other activities that constitute an earning process. Includes, but is not limited to, investment and interest income before deduction of interest expense when recognized as a component of revenue, and sales and trading gain (loss).

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Operating Segments (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014	Sep. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2014	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2013	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2014 segment	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Operating Segments
Operating segments number									3us-gaap_NumberOfOperatingSegments
Revenues:
Revenues	$ 9,459us-gaap_Revenues	$ 11,127us-gaap_Revenues	$ 11,195us-gaap_Revenues	$ 11,684us-gaap_Revenues	$ 10,631us-gaap_Revenues	$ 10,703us-gaap_Revenues	$ 10,295us-gaap_Revenues	$ 10,620us-gaap_Revenues	$ 43,464us-gaap_Revenues	$ 42,249us-gaap_Revenues	$ 37,797us-gaap_Revenues
Segment Reporting, Disclosure of Other Information about Entity's Reportable Segments
Equity earnings in unconsolidated entities									108	64	38
Segment profit									2,291us-gaap_GrossProfit	2,167us-gaap_GrossProfit	1,945us-gaap_GrossProfit
Capital expenditures									3,125paa_CapitalExpenditures	1,641paa_CapitalExpenditures	3,471paa_CapitalExpenditures
Maintenance capital									224paa_MaintenanceCapital	176paa_MaintenanceCapital	170paa_MaintenanceCapital
Total assets	22,256us-gaap_Assets				20,360us-gaap_Assets				22,256us-gaap_Assets	20,360us-gaap_Assets	19,235us-gaap_Assets
Investments in unconsolidated entities	1,735us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestments				485us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestments				1,735us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestments	485us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestments	343us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestments
Transportation
Revenues:
Revenues									774	701	623
Segment Reporting, Disclosure of Other Information about Entity's Reportable Segments
Equity earnings in unconsolidated entities									108	64	38
Segment profit									925	729	710
Capital expenditures									2,483	1,046	1,244
Maintenance capital									165	123	108
Total assets	9,637				7,221				9,637	7,221	6,423
Investments in unconsolidated entities	1,735				485				1,735	485	343
Facilities
Revenues:
Revenues									576	856	736
Segment Reporting, Disclosure of Other Information about Entity's Reportable Segments
Segment profit									584	616	482
Capital expenditures									582	549	1,724
Maintenance capital									52	38	49
Total assets	6,843				6,555				6,843	6,555	6,134
Supply and Logistics
Revenues:
Revenues									42,114	40,692	36,438
Segment Reporting, Disclosure of Other Information about Entity's Reportable Segments
Segment profit									782	822	753
Capital expenditures									60	46	503
Maintenance capital									7	15	13
Total assets	5,776				6,584				5,776	6,584	6,678
Interest expense related to hedged inventory purchases									12	30	12
Operating Segments
Revenues:
Revenues									44,932	43,571	38,954
Operating Segments \| Transportation
Revenues:
Revenues									1,655	1,498	1,416
Operating Segments \| Facilities
Revenues:
Revenues									1,127	1,377	1,098
Operating Segments \| Supply and Logistics
Revenues:
Revenues									42,150	40,696	36,440
Intersegment
Revenues:
Revenues									(1,468)	(1,322)	(1,157)
Intersegment \| Transportation
Revenues:
Revenues									(881)	(797)	(793)
Intersegment \| Facilities
Revenues:
Revenues									(551)	(521)	(362)
Intersegment \| Supply and Logistics
Revenues:
Revenues									$ (36)	$ (4)	$ (2)