diff --git a/darshan-runtime/lib/darshan-core.c b/darshan-runtime/lib/darshan-core.c
index 64fd803270631e70f093978f6a4109842ea1c143..9d35682077e4cee9fda449d8b4b570ceb8f4825f 100644
--- a/darshan-runtime/lib/darshan-core.c
+++ b/darshan-runtime/lib/darshan-core.c
@@ -2036,7 +2036,8 @@ static void darshan_core_cleanup(struct darshan_core_runtime* core)
 #endif
 
 #ifdef HAVE_MPI
-    PMPI_Comm_free(&core->mpi_comm);
+    if(using_mpi)
+        PMPI_Comm_free(&core->mpi_comm);
 #endif
 
     if(core->comp_buf)