diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/petsc/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/petsc/package.py
index 3d13887fa8..9c9ae86bfe 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/petsc/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/petsc/package.py
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ class Petsc(Package):
     depends_on('metis@5:~int64', when='@3.8:+metis~int64')
     depends_on('metis@5:+int64', when='@3.8:+metis+int64')
 
-    depends_on('hdf5+mpi+hl', when='+hdf5+mpi')
+    depends_on('hdf5+mpi+hl+fortran', when='+hdf5+mpi')
     depends_on('zlib', when='+hdf5')
     depends_on('parmetis', when='+metis+mpi')
     # Hypre does not support complex numbers.