Investigating the behavior of Pakistan and India towards TAPI and IPI pipelines with the game theory approach

In this research, after reviewing the history of the two pipelines of TAPI and IPI, and examining the conditions of the energy market, especially natural gas in both India and Pakistan, the behavior of these two countries has been analyzed in relation to the two pipelines of TAPI and IPI with the game theory approach. In this section, taking into account the income from natural gas imports and its costs, both economic and political, for both India and Pakistan, by adopting a single-stage, sequential game with complete information, the strategic behavior of the two countries concerning the TAPI and IPI pipeline has been modeled. The final result was explained using the maximin principle and the result of the model is that the choice of both pipelines, TAPI and IPI, for both India and Pakistan is the point of equilibrium. In the coming years, these two countries will need a lot of natural gas to generate economic growth and domestic demand. India, as one of the five emerging economies in the international economy and member of the BRICS group, needs a lot of fossil energy carriers, especially natural gas. The gap between the supply and demand of natural gas in Pakistan is estimated at 40 billion cubic meters in 2020 according to the country's Institute for Petroleum Studies, which is consistent with the model of the choice of both TAPI and IPI pipelines. Another important feature of IPI is its stability in the long time, which can resolve the need for India and Pakistan over the years. Despite the fact that the Western governments, especially the United States, did not support the IPI pipeline and impose political costs on both countries of India and Pakistan, but taking into account these political costs, the IPI pipeline will be a serious option for supplying natural gas for these two countries; Therefore, the Islamic Republic of Iran should stop the Media hegemony of the Western countries by emphasizing the economic overcoming of the IPI pipeline over its political costs.