diff --git a/opm/simulators/wells/WellState.cpp b/opm/simulators/wells/WellState.cpp
index 7484aa9b5..3b2870bc9 100644
--- a/opm/simulators/wells/WellState.cpp
+++ b/opm/simulators/wells/WellState.cpp
@@ -273,6 +273,7 @@ void WellState<Scalar>::init(const std::vector<Scalar>& cellPressures,
                                                                 report_step,
                                                                 wells_ecl);
     well_rates.clear();
+    this->permanently_inactive_well_names_ = schedule.getInactiveWellNamesAtEnd();
     for (const auto& wname : schedule.wellNames(report_step))
     {
         well_rates.insert({wname, std::make_pair(false, std::vector<Scalar>(this->numPhases()))});
@@ -694,6 +695,9 @@ void WellState<Scalar>::initWellStateMSWell(const std::vector<Well>& wells_ecl,
     // what we do here, is to set the segment rates and perforation rates
     for (int w = 0; w < nw; ++w) {
         const auto& well_ecl = wells_ecl[w];
+        if (this->is_permanently_inactive_well(well_ecl.name()))
+            continue;
+
         auto& ws = this->well(w);
 
         if (well_ecl.isMultiSegment()) {
@@ -724,6 +728,10 @@ void WellState<Scalar>::initWellStateMSWell(const std::vector<Well>& wells_ecl,
                     n_activeperf++;
                 }
             }
+            
+            if (static_cast<int>(ws.perf_data.size()) != n_activeperf)
+                throw std::logic_error("Distributed multi-segment wells cannot be initialized properly yet.");
+
 
             std::vector<std::vector<int>> segment_inlets(well_nseg);
             for (int seg = 0; seg < well_nseg; ++seg) {
@@ -1050,7 +1058,8 @@ bool WellState<Scalar>::operator==(const WellState& rhs) const
 {
     return this->alq_state == rhs.alq_state &&
            this->well_rates == rhs.well_rates &&
-           this->wells_ == rhs.wells_;
+           this->wells_ == rhs.wells_ &&
+           this->permanently_inactive_well_names_ == rhs.permanently_inactive_well_names_;
 }
 
 template<class Scalar>
diff --git a/opm/simulators/wells/WellState.hpp b/opm/simulators/wells/WellState.hpp
index 7eb9b7e33..d6d085234 100644
--- a/opm/simulators/wells/WellState.hpp
+++ b/opm/simulators/wells/WellState.hpp
@@ -348,9 +348,14 @@ public:
         for (auto& w : wells_) {
             serializer(w);
         }
+        serializer(permanently_inactive_well_names_);
     }
 
 private:
+    bool is_permanently_inactive_well(const std::string& wname) const {
+        return std::find(this->permanently_inactive_well_names_.begin(), this->permanently_inactive_well_names_.end(), wname) != this->permanently_inactive_well_names_.end();
+    }
+
     PhaseUsage phase_usage_;
 
     // The wells_ variable is essentially a map of all the wells on the current
@@ -372,6 +377,9 @@ private:
     // not.
     std::map<std::string, std::pair<bool, std::vector<Scalar>>> well_rates;
 
+    // Keep track of permanently inactive well names
+    std::vector<std::string> permanently_inactive_well_names_;
+
     data::Segment
     reportSegmentResults(const int         well_id,
                          const int         seg_ix,