XML 53 R35.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.5.0.2

Organization and Basis of Consolidation and Presentation - Segments and Ownership (Details)	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2016 segment
Organization
Operating segments number	3
AAP | PAGP
Organization
Limited partner interest	42.00%
PAA GP
Organization
General partner ownership interest	2.00%

X

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	paa_OrganizationAndBasisOfPresentationLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	paa_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Percentage investment held by the managing member or general partner of the limited liability company (LLC) or limited partnership (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)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6373374&loc=d3e70478-108055

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LimitedLiabilityCompanyLLCOrLimitedPartnershipLPManagingMemberOrGeneralPartnerOwnershipInterest
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- 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)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6373374&loc=d3e70478-108055

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LimitedLiabilityCompanyLLCOrLimitedPartnershipLPMembersOrLimitedPartnersOwnershipInterest
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

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.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_NumberOfOperatingSegments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Details

Name:	dei_LegalEntityAxis=paa_PlainsAapLPMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsByRelatedPartyAxis=paa_PlainsGPHoldingsLPMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	dei_LegalEntityAxis=paa_PaaGPLLCMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: