diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 6878c9a0de25c77d51ce974a5615b6e2d821c3bb..f3f5c8478558efc0a3116f3dfc8fddbb1e0d176a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -156,8 +156,14 @@ set(PUGS_ENABLE_PETSC AUTO CACHE STRING
   "Choose one of: AUTO ON OFF")
 
 if (PUGS_ENABLE_PETSC MATCHES "^(AUTO|ON)$")
-  pkg_check_modules(PETSC PETSc)
-
+  if (MPI_FOUND)
+    # PETSc support is deactivated if MPI is not found
+    pkg_check_modules(PETSC PETSc)
+  else()
+    message(STATUS "PETSc support is deactivated since pugs will not be build with MPI support")
+    set(PETSC_FOUND FALSE)
+    unset(PUGS_HAS_PETSC)
+  endif()
   set(PUGS_HAS_PETSC ${PETSC_FOUND})
 else()
   unset(PUGS_HAS_PETSC)