diff --git a/src/grid/spectral_utilities.f90 b/src/grid/spectral_utilities.f90
index de9518b8c..c5481e6c5 100644
--- a/src/grid/spectral_utilities.f90
+++ b/src/grid/spectral_utilities.f90
@@ -174,8 +174,6 @@ subroutine spectral_utilities_init()
   num_grid        => num_solver%get_dict('grid',defaultVal=emptyDict)
   num_grid_fft    => num_grid%get_dict('FFT',defaultVal=emptyDict)
 
-  call PetscOptionsClear(PETSC_NULL_OPTIONS,err_PETSc)
-  CHKERRQ(err_PETSc)
   call PetscOptionsInsertString(PETSC_NULL_OPTIONS,&
                                 num_grid%get_asStr('PETSc_options',defaultVal=''),err_PETSc)
   CHKERRQ(err_PETSc)
diff --git a/src/mesh/FEM_utilities.f90 b/src/mesh/FEM_utilities.f90
index 3af7b77ea..b1c218172 100644
--- a/src/mesh/FEM_utilities.f90
+++ b/src/mesh/FEM_utilities.f90
@@ -120,8 +120,6 @@ subroutine FEM_utilities_init(num_mesh)
     call IO_error(821,ext_msg='integration order (p_i) out of bounds')
 
   flush(IO_STDOUT)
-  call PetscOptionsClear(PETSC_NULL_OPTIONS,err_PETSc)
-  CHKERRQ(err_PETSc)
 
   petsc_options = misc_prefixOptions('-snes_type newtonls &
                                &-snes_linesearch_type cp -snes_ksp_ew &
diff --git a/src/parallelization.f90 b/src/parallelization.f90
index 46b94af53..153c7fc17 100644
--- a/src/parallelization.f90
+++ b/src/parallelization.f90
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ subroutine parallelization_init()
 #endif
   CHKERRQ(err_PETSc)
 
+  call PetscOptionsClear(PETSC_NULL_OPTIONS,err_PETSc)
+  CHKERRQ(err_PETSc)
+
   call MPI_Comm_rank(MPI_COMM_WORLD,worldrank,err_MPI)
   if (err_MPI /= 0_MPI_INTEGER_KIND) &
     error stop 'Could not determine worldrank'