The company said the award of the licences for the Raj Mahal Block in the state of Jharkhand and the Tatapani-Ramkola block in Chhattisgarh followed an extensive process of environmental and stakeholder approvals over a 16-month period.

The first of two drilling rigs has been mobilised to the Tatapani-Ramkola block with drilling scheduled to start in the next couple of weeks.

Arrow said its consortium - which includes Indian majors GAIL, Tata and EIG Energy Infrastructure - was the first among the groups that won in acreage in from India's third CSM licensing round to have completed all environmental and legislative clearances.

During the exploration phase, each block will have a 13 well program of core and production wells. Two Australian companies - Mitchell Drilling and South West Pinnacle Drilling - have been awarded the drilling contracts.

Both Raj Mahal and Tatapani-Ramkola have an area of about 460 square kilometres. Their gas resources have been estimated by the Director General of Hydrocarbons India at 5.5 trillion cubic feet and 1.9Tcf respectively.

Partners in the two blocks are Arrow (35%), GAIL (35%), Tata Power (15%) and EIG Energy Infrastructure Group (15%).

Arrow said with the environmental clearance already awarded, it should secure the exploration licence for the third block, Mand-Raigarh, in the next four months.

Both rigs contracted by Arrow will mobilise to Mand-Raigarh after completing their respective drilling programs.