I think they would invest here because they made a major find.  The companies would not have continued looking if every find wasn't good enough to go forward.  Currently, TAPS is still working.  It is in the oil companies best interests to keep it running.  The creation of a huge pipeline is such a big sunk cost that the oil companies have great incentive to bring new fields onto the market now.  I doubt any oil company wants to pay for a TAPS type pipeline again.