The Lastest from TransCanada

The Anchorage Daily News published the following TransCanada story (LINK). According to TransCanada CEO Hal Kvisle everything is full steam ahead as he stated the obvious:

"The most likely shippers that are going to underpin this pipeline are the three existing Prudhoe Bay producers (BP, Conoco Phillips and Exxon Mobil) and so while the open season is out there, in parallel with that we're also holding discussions with those people in advance of the open season and leading up to the conclusion of that.

"And that is probably the single most important step in moving that project forward, are fruitful discussions with the existing producers on the North Slope"

What Kvisle has not explained is why the producers should be compelled to do business with TransCanada. TransCanada expects the AGIA license by late November, but an AGIA license is not needed to build a gas pipeline. So really- what does TransCanada have that the producers actually need?