diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 46d62c62..48a8936a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -97,8 +97,13 @@ include (UseOptimization)
 # dependencies, in case they alter the list of warnings
 include (UseWarnings)
 
+# parallel computing must be explicitly enabled
+option (USE_MPI "Use Message Passing Interface for parallel computing" OFF)
+if (NOT USE_MPI)
+	set (CMAKE_DISABLE_FIND_PACKAGE_MPI TRUE)
+endif (NOT USE_MPI)
+
 ### --- begin opm-core specific --- ###
-# parallel programming
 include (UseOpenMP)
 find_openmp (${project})
 ### --- end opm-core specific --- ###
diff --git a/cmake/Modules/Finddune-common.cmake b/cmake/Modules/Finddune-common.cmake
index 5ba9bc56..807cde91 100644
--- a/cmake/Modules/Finddune-common.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Modules/Finddune-common.cmake
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ find_opm_package (
   # dependencies
   "CXX11Features REQUIRED;
   BLAS REQUIRED;
-  LAPACK REQUIRED
+  LAPACK REQUIRED;
+  MPI
   "
   # header to search for
   "dune/common/fvector.hh"
diff --git a/cmake/Modules/OpmFind.cmake b/cmake/Modules/OpmFind.cmake
index 1f0b1bfb..11f4c2b9 100644
--- a/cmake/Modules/OpmFind.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Modules/OpmFind.cmake
@@ -81,6 +81,12 @@ macro (find_and_append_package_to prefix name)
 	message (STATUS "Finding package ${name} using module mode")
 	find_package (${name} ${ARGN})
   endif (${name}_DIR)
+
+  # the variable "NAME" may be replaced during find_package (as this is
+  # now a macro, and not a function anymore), so we must reinitialize
+  string (TOUPPER "${name}" NAME)
+  string (REPLACE "-" "_" NAME "${NAME}")
+
   if (${name}_FOUND OR ${NAME}_FOUND)
 	foreach (var IN LISTS _opm_proj_vars)
 	  if (DEFINED ${name}_${var})
@@ -92,9 +98,9 @@ macro (find_and_append_package_to prefix name)
 	  # some packages define _PATH instead of _DIRS (Hi, MPI!)
 	  if ("${var}" STREQUAL "INCLUDE_DIRS")
 		if (DEFINED ${name}_INCLUDE_PATH)
-		  list (APPEND ${prefix}_INCLUDE_DIRS ${name}_INCLUDE_PATH)
+		  list (APPEND ${prefix}_INCLUDE_DIRS ${${name}_INCLUDE_PATH})
 		elseif (DEFINED ${NAME}_INCLUDE_PATH)
-		  list (APPEND ${prefix}_INCLUDE_DIRS ${NAME}_INCLUDE_PATH)
+		  list (APPEND ${prefix}_INCLUDE_DIRS ${${NAME}_INCLUDE_PATH})
 		endif (DEFINED ${name}_INCLUDE_PATH)
 	  endif ("${var}" STREQUAL "INCLUDE_DIRS")
 	  # cleanup lists
diff --git a/cmake/Modules/OpmPackage.cmake b/cmake/Modules/OpmPackage.cmake
index 549ad9c7..efeec037 100644
--- a/cmake/Modules/OpmPackage.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Modules/OpmPackage.cmake
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@ macro (find_opm_package module deps header lib defs prog conf)
   # in standard system locations either, then start to wander
   # about and look for it in proximity to ourself. Qt Creator likes
   # to put the build-directories as siblings to the source trees,
-  # but with a -build suffix
+  # but with a -build suffix, DUNE likes to have the the build tree
+  # in a "build-cmake" sub-directory of each module
   if (NOT (${module}_DIR OR ${module}_ROOT OR ${MODULE}_ROOT))
 	string (TOLOWER "${module}" _module_lower)
 	set (_guess
@@ -87,6 +88,8 @@ macro (find_opm_package module deps header lib defs prog conf)
 	  "../${module}-build"
 	  "../${_module_lower}"
 	  "../${_module_lower}-build"
+	  "../../${module}/build-cmake"
+	  "../../${_module_lower}/build-cmake"
 	  )
 	set (_guess_bin)
 	foreach (_item IN ITEMS ${_guess})
@@ -127,7 +130,6 @@ macro (find_opm_package module deps header lib defs prog conf)
   foreach (_dep IN ITEMS ${deps})
 	separate_arguments (_args UNIX_COMMAND ${_dep})
 	find_and_append_package_to (${module} ${_args} ${${module}_QUIET})
-	find_package (${_args} QUIET)
 	list (GET _args 0 _name_only)
 	list (APPEND _deps ${_name_only})
   endforeach (_dep)
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 150c141b..45ecda87 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ Optional Features:
   --disable-silent-rules  print every compilation statement as executed
   --enable-system-debug   put .debug files in global GDB debug dir
                           [default=yes if prefix=/usr, no otherwise]
+  --enable-parallel       process in parallel using MPI [default=no]
   --enable-openmp         activate experimental support for OpenMP
   --disable-option-checking  ignore unrecognized --enable/--with options
 
@@ -93,6 +94,7 @@ buildtype=Debug
 pch_use=
 #use_openmp=" -DUSE_OPENMP=OFF"
 use_openmp=
+use_mpi=
 #silent_rules=" -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=OFF"
 silent_rules=
 #debug_loc=" -DSYSTEM_DEBUG=OFF"
@@ -226,6 +228,10 @@ for OPT in "$@"; do
               use_openmp=" -DUSE_OPENMP=OFF"
               pkgname=""
               ;;
+            parallel)
+              use_mpi=" -DUSE_MPI=OFF"
+              pkgname=""
+              ;;
             agmg |\
             ert  |\
             superlu)
@@ -260,6 +266,11 @@ for OPT in "$@"; do
               # special flag; don't set shared/static
               shared=""
               ;;
+            parallel)
+              use_openmp=" -DUSE_MPI=ON"
+              # special flag; don't set shared/static
+              shared=""
+              ;;
             # this flag is just for compatibility with the deprecation
             # flag in DUNE, so we can build without warnings
             fieldvector-size-is-method)
@@ -308,7 +319,7 @@ for a in "${VARS[@]}"; do
 done
 
 # pass everything on to CMake
-CMDLINE="env ${ENVVARS} ${CMAKE_COMMAND} \"${srcdir}\" \"-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$prefix\" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${buildtype}${pch_use}${silent_rules}${debug_loc}${use_openmp} ${FEATURES}"
+CMDLINE="env ${ENVVARS} ${CMAKE_COMMAND} \"${srcdir}\" \"-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$prefix\" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${buildtype}${pch_use}${silent_rules}${debug_loc}${use_openmp}${use_mpi} ${FEATURES}"
 echo --- calling CMake ---
 echo ${CMDLINE}
 eval exec ${CMDLINE}