Greece has the right to conduct energy exploration in its territorial waters, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said, pledging to seek an amicable solution with Turkey on the matter when he visits there in early March reports capital.

Hydrocarbon deposits in the Aegean Sea can satisfy some of Europe’s energy needs, Samaras said. He wants all nations to sign the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which allows maritime states to establish areas, known as Economic Exclusion Zones, that extend from the seabed to the surface and as far out as 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers, 230 miles) from their territorial-waters limit.

“Greece has the right, by the Law of the Sea, to declare an EEZ whenever it wants,” Samaras told an Athens news conference yesterday, according to Bloomberg after meeting with French President Francois Hollande. “Together with Cyprus, we can play an even bigger role in the production of hydrocarbons to supply Europe from European sources.”