diff --git a/opm-core-prereqs.cmake b/opm-core-prereqs.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..15d843f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/opm-core-prereqs.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# defines that must be present in config.h for our headers
+set (opm-core_CONFIG_VAR
+  HAVE_ERT
+  HAVE_SUITESPARSE_UMFPACK_H
+  HAVE_DUNE_ISTL
+  HAVE_MPI
+  HAVE_PETSC
+  DUNE_ISTL_VERSION_MAJOR
+  DUNE_ISTL_VERSION_MINOR
+  DUNE_ISTL_VERSION_REVISION
+  )
+
+# dependencies
+set (opm-core_DEPS
+  # compile with C99 support if available
+  "C99"
+  # compile with C++0x/11 support if available
+  "CXX11Features REQUIRED"
+  # various runtime library enhancements
+  "Boost 1.44.0
+    COMPONENTS date_time filesystem system unit_test_framework REQUIRED"
+  # matrix library
+  "BLAS REQUIRED"
+  "LAPACK REQUIRED"
+  # Tim Davis' SuiteSparse archive
+  "SuiteSparse COMPONENTS umfpack"
+  # solver
+  "SuperLU"
+	# Eclipse I/O tools
+  "ecl REQUIRED"
+  # Look for MPI support
+  "MPI"
+  # PETSc numerical backend
+  "PETSc"
+  # DUNE dependency
+  "dune-common"
+  "dune-istl"
+  "opm-common REQUIRED"
+  # Parser library for ECL-type simulation models
+  "opm-parser REQUIRED"
+  # the code which implements the material laws
+  "opm-material REQUIRED"
+  # the code which implements the output routines
+  "opm-output REQUIRED"
+  # the code which implements grids
+  "opm-grid REQUIRED"
+  )
+
+find_package_deps(opm-core)