diff --git a/opm/models/blackoil/blackoilintensivequantities.hh b/opm/models/blackoil/blackoilintensivequantities.hh
index e1bb0d226..c5d8c9442 100644
--- a/opm/models/blackoil/blackoilintensivequantities.hh
+++ b/opm/models/blackoil/blackoilintensivequantities.hh
@@ -661,8 +661,8 @@ private:
         // mobility_ class attribute. the division by the phase viscosity happens later.
         MaterialLaw::relativePermeabilities(mobility, materialParams, fluidState);
         Valgrind::CheckDefined(mobility);
-        const auto& materialLawManager = problem.materialLawManager();
-        if (materialLawManager->hasDirectionalRelperms()) {
+        const auto* materialLawManager = problem.materialLawManagerPtr();
+        if (materialLawManager && materialLawManager->hasDirectionalRelperms()) {
             auto satnumIdx = materialLawManager->satnumRegionIdx(globalSpaceIdx);
             using Dir = FaceDir::DirEnum;
             constexpr int ndim = 3;
diff --git a/opm/models/common/multiphasebaseproblem.hh b/opm/models/common/multiphasebaseproblem.hh
index 85964a5c4..f0380b64a 100644
--- a/opm/models/common/multiphasebaseproblem.hh
+++ b/opm/models/common/multiphasebaseproblem.hh
@@ -40,7 +40,13 @@
 #include <dune/common/fmatrix.hh>
 
 namespace Opm {
-
+// TODO: This hack is used to be able compile blackoilintensitivequantities.hh (see the function updateRelperms()) when
+//   the problem is not an EclProblem. For example if the problem is a ReservoirBlackOilVcfvProblem, the problem will not
+//   have a materialLawManager pointer (as the EclProblem has). Since this class MuitPhaseBaseProblem (see below) is a parent
+//   class for both those problem types, we can solve this problem by forward declaring EclMaterialLawManager<Traits> here
+//   and defining a method materialLawManagerPtr() here that returns a nullptr, but is overridden in EclProblem to
+//   return the real EclMaterialManager pointer.
+template <class TraitsT> class EclMaterialLawManager;
 /*!
  * \ingroup Discretization
  *
@@ -246,6 +252,13 @@ public:
         return dummy;
     }
 
+    // TODO: See the comment at the top of this file for the reason why we need this method
+    template <class TraitsT>
+    const ::Opm::EclMaterialLawManager<TraitsT>* materialLawManagerPtr() const
+    {
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+
     /*!
      * \brief Returns the temperature \f$\mathrm{[K]}\f$ within a control volume.
      *