diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index d81da8c60..aa224cb8a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ option(ENABLE_ECL_INPUT "Enable eclipse input support?" ON)
 option(ENABLE_ECL_OUTPUT "Enable eclipse output support?" ON)
 option(ENABLE_MOCKSIM "Build the mock simulator for io testing" ON)
 option(OPM_ENABLE_PYTHON "Enable python bindings?" OFF)
+option(OPM_ENABLE_EMBEDDED_PYTHON "Enable python bindings?" OFF)
+
 
 # Output implies input
 if(ENABLE_ECL_OUTPUT)
@@ -211,7 +213,8 @@ install(DIRECTORY cmake DESTINATION share/opm)
 install(FILES etc/opm_bash_completion.sh.in DESTINATION share/opm/etc)
 
 if (OPM_ENABLE_PYTHON)
-
+  # -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+  # 1: Wrap C++ functionality in Python
   find_package(PythonInterp REQUIRED)
   include(FindPythonInterp)
 
@@ -272,6 +275,9 @@ if (OPM_ENABLE_PYTHON)
   set_target_properties(opmcommon PROPERTIES POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON)
   set_directory_properties(PROPERTIES ADDITIONAL_MAKE_CLEAN_FILES ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/python/python)
 
+  # -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+  # Let cmake configure some small shell scripts which can be used to simplify
+  # building and testing of the Python extensions.
   configure_file(python/setup-build.sh.in tmp/setup-build.sh)
   file( COPY ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/tmp/setup-build.sh
         DESTINATION ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}
@@ -283,6 +289,15 @@ if (OPM_ENABLE_PYTHON)
         FILE_PERMISSIONS OWNER_READ OWNER_WRITE OWNER_EXECUTE )
 
   configure_file(python/enable-python.sh.in enable-python.sh)
+
+  # -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+  # 2: Embed the Python interpreter for keywords like PYACTION and PYINPUT
+  if (OPM_ENABLE_EMBEDDED_PYTHON)
+    add_subdirectory(python/pybind11)
+    #target_link_libraries(opmcommon PRIVATE pybind11::embed)
+    include_directories("python/pybind11/include;${PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
+    target_link_libraries(opmcommon PRIVATE ${PYTHON_LIBRARY})
+
+    add_definitions(-DEMBEDDED_PYTHON)
+  endif()
 endif()
-
-
diff --git a/CMakeLists_files.cmake b/CMakeLists_files.cmake
index d593a2c80..709bfffca 100644
--- a/CMakeLists_files.cmake
+++ b/CMakeLists_files.cmake
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ if(ENABLE_ECL_INPUT)
     src/opm/parser/eclipse/Deck/DeckOutput.cpp
     src/opm/parser/eclipse/Deck/Section.cpp
     src/opm/parser/eclipse/Deck/UDAValue.cpp
+    src/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/Python.cpp
+    src/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/PythonInterp.cpp
     src/opm/parser/eclipse/EclipseState/AquiferCT.cpp
     src/opm/parser/eclipse/EclipseState/Aquifetp.cpp
     src/opm/parser/eclipse/EclipseState/Aquancon.cpp
@@ -234,6 +236,7 @@ if(ENABLE_ECL_INPUT)
     tests/parser/DynamicVectorTests.cpp
     tests/parser/Eclipse3DPropertiesTests.cpp
     tests/parser/EclipseGridTests.cpp
+    tests/parser/EmbeddedPython.cpp
     tests/parser/EqualRegTests.cpp
     tests/parser/EventTests.cpp
     tests/parser/FaceDirTests.cpp
@@ -591,7 +594,8 @@ if(ENABLE_ECL_INPUT)
        opm/parser/eclipse/Deck/DeckOutput.hpp
        opm/parser/eclipse/Deck/DeckKeyword.hpp
        opm/parser/eclipse/Deck/DeckRecord.hpp
-       opm/parser/eclipse/Deck/UDAValue.hpp)
+       opm/parser/eclipse/Deck/UDAValue.hpp
+       opm/parser/eclipse/Python/Python.hpp)
 endif()
 if(ENABLE_ECL_OUTPUT)
   list(APPEND PUBLIC_HEADER_FILES
diff --git a/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/Python.hpp b/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/Python.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3f6545389
--- /dev/null
+++ b/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/Python.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*
+  Copyright 2019 Equinor ASA.
+
+  This file is part of the Open Porous Media project (OPM).
+
+  OPM is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+  (at your option) any later version.
+
+  OPM is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+  GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  along with OPM.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+*/
+
+#ifndef OPM_EMBEDDED_PYTHON
+#define OPM_EMBEDDED_PYTHON
+
+#include <memory>
+#include <string>
+
+
+namespace Opm {
+class PythonInterp;
+
+
+
+/*
+  This class is a thin wrapper around the PythonInterp class. The Python class
+  can always be safely instantiated, but the actual PythonInterp implementation
+  depends on whether Python support was enabled when this library instance was
+  compiled.
+
+  If one the methods actually invoking the Python interpreter is invoked without
+  proper Python support a dummy PythinInterp instance will be used; and that
+  will just throw std::logic_error. The operator bool can be used to check if
+  this Python manager indeed has a valid Python runtime:
+
+
+     Python python;
+
+     if (python)
+         python.exec("print('Hello world')")
+     else
+         OpmLog::Error("This version of opmcommon has been built with support for embedded Python");
+
+*/
+
+class Python {
+public:
+    Python();
+    bool exec(const std::string& python_code);
+    explicit operator bool() const;
+private:
+    std::shared_ptr<PythonInterp> interp;
+};
+}
+
+
+#endif
+
diff --git a/src/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/Python.cpp b/src/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/Python.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2e2a3d73c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/Python.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+/*
+  Copyright 2019 Equinor ASA.
+
+  This file is part of the Open Porous Media project (OPM).
+
+  OPM is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+  (at your option) any later version.
+
+  OPM is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+  GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  along with OPM.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+*/
+
+
+#include <opm/parser/eclipse/Python/Python.hpp>
+#include "PythonInterp.hpp"
+
+namespace Opm {
+
+Python::Python():
+    interp(std::make_shared<PythonInterp>())
+{
+}
+
+
+bool Python::exec(const std::string& python_code) {
+    this->interp->exec(python_code);
+    return true;
+}
+
+
+Python::operator bool() const {
+    if (this->interp)
+        return bool( *this->interp );
+    else
+        return false;
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/PythonInterp.cpp b/src/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/PythonInterp.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1f9bfdaa9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/PythonInterp.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+  Copyright 2019 Equinor ASA.
+
+  This file is part of the Open Porous Media project (OPM).
+
+  OPM is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+  (at your option) any later version.
+
+  OPM is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+  GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  along with OPM.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+*/
+
+#include "PythonInterp.hpp"
+
+#ifdef EMBEDDED_PYTHON
+
+#include <pybind11/embed.h>
+namespace py = pybind11;
+
+namespace Opm {
+
+
+bool PythonInterp::exec(const std::string& python_code) {
+    py::object scope = py::module::import("__main__").attr("__dict__");
+    py::exec(python_code, scope);
+    return true;
+}
+
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/PythonInterp.hpp b/src/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/PythonInterp.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3ce2d4d78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/opm/parser/eclipse/Python/PythonInterp.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/*
+  Copyright 2019 Equinor ASA.
+
+  This file is part of the Open Porous Media project (OPM).
+
+  OPM is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+  (at your option) any later version.
+
+  OPM is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+  GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  along with OPM.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+*/
+
+
+#ifndef EMBEDDED_PYTHON_INTERP
+#define EMBEDDED_PYTHON_INTERP
+
+#include <string>
+#include <stdexcept>
+
+#ifdef EMBEDDED_PYTHON
+
+#include <pybind11/embed.h>
+namespace py = pybind11;
+
+#endif
+
+
+
+namespace Opm {
+
+#ifdef EMBEDDED_PYTHON
+
+class PythonInterp {
+public:
+    bool exec(const std::string& python_code);
+    explicit operator bool() const { return true; }
+private:
+    py::scoped_interpreter guard = {};
+};
+
+
+#else
+
+class PythonInterp {
+public:
+    bool exec(const std::string&) {
+        return this->fail();
+    };
+
+    explicit operator bool() const { return false; }
+private:
+    bool fail() { throw std::logic_error("The current opm code has been built without Python support;"); }
+};
+
+#endif
+
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/tests/parser/EmbeddedPython.cpp b/tests/parser/EmbeddedPython.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e7e31a58a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/parser/EmbeddedPython.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/*
+  Copyright 2019 Equinor ASA.
+
+  This file is part of the Open Porous Media project (OPM).
+
+  OPM is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+  (at your option) any later version.
+
+  OPM is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+  GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  along with OPM.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#include <stdexcept>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <memory>
+
+#define BOOST_TEST_MODULE EMBEDDED_PYTHON
+
+#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
+
+#include <opm/parser/eclipse/Python/Python.hpp>
+
+#ifndef EMBEDDED_PYTHON
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(INSTANTIATE) {
+    Opm::Python python;
+    BOOST_CHECK(!python);
+    BOOST_CHECK_THROW(python.exec("print('Hello world')"), std::logic_error);
+}
+
+#else
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(INSTANTIATE) {
+    Opm::Python python;
+    BOOST_CHECK(python);
+    BOOST_CHECK_NO_THROW(python.exec("print('Hello world')"));
+}
+
+#endif
+