diff --git a/geomagio/Util.py b/geomagio/Util.py
index a26ff8f947069323e48159e762775b77848f339a..1c90dc8efb58c66b547dcb2178f139239d658603 100644
--- a/geomagio/Util.py
+++ b/geomagio/Util.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import pycurl
 import numpy
 import os
 from obspy.core import Stats, Trace
@@ -160,6 +159,8 @@ def read_url(url, connect_timeout=15, max_redirects=5, timeout=300):
         raise e
     except Exception:
         pass
+    # wait to import pycurl until it is needed
+    import pycurl
     content = None
     out = BytesIO()
     curl = pycurl.Curl()