diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mgis/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mgis/package.py
index fc0c93836e7..7910537426c 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mgis/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mgis/package.py
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ class Mgis(CMakePackage):
     variant("c", default=True, description="Enables c bindings")
     variant("fortran", default=True, description="Enables fortran bindings")
     variant("python", default=True, description="Enables python bindings")
+    variant("static", default=False, description="Enables static libraries")
     variant(
         "build_type",
         default="Release",
@@ -104,4 +105,7 @@ def cmake_args(self):
             # adding path to boost
             args.append("-DBOOST_ROOT={0}".format(self.spec["boost"].prefix))
 
+        if "+static" in self.spec:
+            args.append("-Denable-static=ON")
+
         return args