diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index af84d411d..3efae3f70 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,26 +16,18 @@ if (PETSC_DIR STREQUAL "")
     message (FATAL_ERROR "PETSc location (PETSC_DIR) is not defined")
 endif ()
 
-file (STRINGS "${PETSC_DIR}/lib/petsc/conf/petscvariables" petsc_external_lib REGEX "PETSC_WITH_EXTERNAL_LIB = .*$?")
-string (REPLACE "=" ";" petsc_external_lib "${petsc_external_lib}")
-list (GET petsc_external_lib 1 petsc_external_lib)
-string (REGEX MATCHALL "-[lLW]([^\" ]+)" TMP_LIST "${petsc_external_lib}")
-list (REMOVE_DUPLICATES TMP_LIST)
-foreach (exlib ${TMP_LIST})
-    set (PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB "${PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB} ${exlib}")
-endforeach (exlib)
+file (STRINGS "${PETSC_DIR}/lib/petsc/conf/petscvariables" PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB REGEX "PETSC_WITH_EXTERNAL_LIB = .*$?")
+string (REGEX MATCHALL "-[lLW]([^\" ]+)" PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB "${PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB}")
+list (REMOVE_DUPLICATES PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB)
+string (REPLACE ";" " " PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB "${PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB}")
 
-file (STRINGS "${PETSC_DIR}/lib/petsc/conf/petscvariables" petsc_includes REGEX "PETSC_FC_INCLUDES = .*$?")
-string (REPLACE "=" ";" petsc_includes "${petsc_includes}")
-list (GET petsc_includes 1 petsc_includes)
-string (REGEX MATCHALL "-I([^\" ]+)" TMP_LIST "${petsc_includes}")
-list (REMOVE_DUPLICATES TMP_LIST)
-foreach (dir ${TMP_LIST})
-    set (PETSC_INCLUDES "${PETSC_INCLUDES} ${dir}")
-endforeach (dir)
+file (STRINGS "${PETSC_DIR}/lib/petsc/conf/petscvariables" PETSC_INCLUDES REGEX "PETSC_FC_INCLUDES = .*$?")
+string (REGEX MATCHALL "-I([^\" ]+)" PETSC_INCLUDES "${PETSC_INCLUDES}")
+list (REMOVE_DUPLICATES PETSC_INCLUDES)
+string (REPLACE ";" " " PETSC_INCLUDES "${PETSC_INCLUDES}")
 
-message ("PETSC_DIR:\n${PETSC_DIR}\n"                  )
-message ("PETSC_INCLUDES:\n${PETSC_INCLUDES}\n"        )
+message ("PETSC_DIR:\n${PETSC_DIR}\n")
+message ("PETSC_INCLUDES:\n${PETSC_INCLUDES}\n")
 message ("PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB:\n${PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB}\n")
 
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------