diff --git a/src/xtgeo/__init__.py b/src/xtgeo/__init__.py
index 0f3c411c1..dc82de6a3 100644
--- a/src/xtgeo/__init__.py
+++ b/src/xtgeo/__init__.py
@@ -53,13 +53,7 @@ def _xprint(msg):
 
 from xtgeo._cxtgeo import XTGeoCLibError
 from xtgeo.common import XTGeoDialog
-from xtgeo.common.constants import (
-    UNDEF,
-    UNDEF_INT,
-    UNDEF_INT_LIMIT,
-    UNDEF_LIMIT,
-    XTG_BATCH,
-)
+from xtgeo.common.constants import UNDEF, UNDEF_INT, UNDEF_INT_LIMIT, UNDEF_LIMIT
 from xtgeo.common.exceptions import (
     BlockedWellsNotFoundError,
     DateNotFoundError,
@@ -172,7 +166,7 @@ def _xprint(msg):
             "Using non-interactive Agg backend for matplotlib"
         )
         _xprint("=" * 79)
-        os.environ[XTG_BATCH] = "1"
+        os.environ["MPLBACKEND"] = "Agg"
 
 
 warnings.filterwarnings("default", category=DeprecationWarning, module="xtgeo")
diff --git a/src/xtgeo/common/_import_mpl.py b/src/xtgeo/common/_import_mpl.py
deleted file mode 100644
index b053a5047..000000000
--- a/src/xtgeo/common/_import_mpl.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-from __future__ import annotations
-
-import os
-import sys
-from typing import Any
-
-from xtgeo.common.constants import XTG_BATCH
-
-
-def get_matplotlib() -> Any:
-    if "matplotlib" not in sys.modules:
-        import matplotlib
-
-        if XTG_BATCH in os.environ:
-            matplotlib.use("Agg")
-    return sys.modules["matplotlib"]
-
-
-def get_pyplot() -> Any:
-    if "matplotlib" not in sys.modules:
-        # Set `use("Agg")`
-        get_matplotlib()
-
-    if "matplotlib.pyplot" not in sys.modules:
-        # Must be imported separately
-        import matplotlib.pyplot
-
-        matplotlib.pyplot  # Let flake8 ignore unused import
-    return sys.modules["matplotlib.pyplot"]
diff --git a/src/xtgeo/common/constants.py b/src/xtgeo/common/constants.py
index 2f0fe843e..751035b5c 100644
--- a/src/xtgeo/common/constants.py
+++ b/src/xtgeo/common/constants.py
@@ -25,5 +25,3 @@
 # for XYZ data, restricted to float32 and int32
 UNDEF_CONT = UNDEF
 UNDEF_DISC = UNDEF_INT
-
-XTG_BATCH = "XTG_BATCH"
diff --git a/src/xtgeo/plot/baseplot.py b/src/xtgeo/plot/baseplot.py
index a577a5a11..704b7becb 100644
--- a/src/xtgeo/plot/baseplot.py
+++ b/src/xtgeo/plot/baseplot.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 from packaging.version import parse as versionparse
 
 from xtgeo.common import XTGeoDialog, null_logger
-from xtgeo.common._import_mpl import get_matplotlib, get_pyplot
 
 from . import _colortables as _ctable
 
@@ -12,9 +11,11 @@
 
 def _get_colormap(name):
     """For matplotlib compatibility."""
-    mpl = get_matplotlib()
+    import matplotlib as mpl
+
     if versionparse(mpl.__version__) < versionparse("3.6"):
-        plt = get_pyplot()
+        import matplotlib.plt as plt
+
         return plt.cm.get_cmap(name)
     else:
         return mpl.colormaps[name]
@@ -56,7 +57,8 @@ def colormap(self):
 
     @colormap.setter
     def colormap(self, cmap):
-        mpl = get_matplotlib()
+        import matplotlib as mpl
+
         if isinstance(cmap, mpl.colors.LinearSegmentedColormap):
             self._colormap = cmap
         elif isinstance(cmap, str):
@@ -86,8 +88,9 @@ def define_any_colormap(cfile, colorlist=None):
                 from 0 index. Default is just keep the linear sequence as is.
 
         """
-        mpl = get_matplotlib()
-        plt = get_matplotlib()
+        import matplotlib as mpl
+        import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
         valid_maps = sorted(m for m in plt.cm.datad)
 
         logger.info("Valid color maps: %s", valid_maps)
@@ -205,7 +208,8 @@ def canvas(self, title=None, subtitle=None, infotext=None, figscaling=1.0):
 
 
         """
-        plt = get_pyplot()
+        import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
         self._fig, self._ax = plt.subplots(
             figsize=(11.69 * figscaling, 8.27 * figscaling)
         )
@@ -227,8 +231,9 @@ def show(self):
             self._fig.tight_layout()
 
         if self._showok:
+            import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
             logger.info("Calling plt show method...")
-            plt = get_pyplot()
             plt.show()
             return True
 
@@ -242,7 +247,8 @@ def close(self):
         After close is called, no more operations can be performed on the plot.
 
         """
-        plt = get_pyplot()
+        import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
         for fig in self._allfigs:
             plt.close(fig)
 
@@ -272,7 +278,8 @@ def savefig(self, filename, fformat="png", last=True, **kwargs):
             self._fig.tight_layout()
 
         if self._showok:
-            plt = get_pyplot()
+            import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
             plt.savefig(filename, format=fformat, **kwargs)
             if last:
                 self.close()
diff --git a/src/xtgeo/plot/grid3d_slice.py b/src/xtgeo/plot/grid3d_slice.py
index 91a38a661..a1d809738 100644
--- a/src/xtgeo/plot/grid3d_slice.py
+++ b/src/xtgeo/plot/grid3d_slice.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 """Module for 3D Grid slice plots, using matplotlib."""
 
 from xtgeo.common import null_logger
-from xtgeo.common._import_mpl import get_matplotlib, get_pyplot
 from xtgeo.plot.baseplot import BasePlot
 
 logger = null_logger(__name__)
@@ -122,7 +121,8 @@ def _plot_layer(self):
 
         patches = []
 
-        mpl = get_matplotlib()
+        import matplotlib as mpl
+
         for pos in range(len(ibn)):
             nppol = xyc[pos, :, :]
             if nppol.mean() > 0.0:
@@ -155,5 +155,6 @@ def _plot_layer(self):
         self._ax.set_ylim((ymin, ymax))
         self._fig.colorbar(im)
 
-        plt = get_pyplot()
+        import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
         plt.gca().set_aspect("equal", adjustable="box")
diff --git a/src/xtgeo/plot/xsection.py b/src/xtgeo/plot/xsection.py
index 07bc5b33b..8946cc900 100644
--- a/src/xtgeo/plot/xsection.py
+++ b/src/xtgeo/plot/xsection.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 from scipy.ndimage import gaussian_filter
 
 from xtgeo.common import XTGeoDialog, null_logger
-from xtgeo.common._import_mpl import get_matplotlib, get_pyplot
 from xtgeo.well import Well
 from xtgeo.xyz import Polygons
 
@@ -263,7 +262,7 @@ def canvas(self, title=None, subtitle=None, infotext=None, figscaling=1.0):
 
         """
         # overriding the base class canvas
-        plt = get_pyplot()
+        import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 
         plt.rcParams["axes.xmargin"] = 0  # fill the plot margins
 
@@ -444,7 +443,8 @@ def set_xaxis_md(self, gridlines=False):
         md_start_round = int(math.floor(md_start / 100.0)) * 100
         md_start_delta = md_start - md_start_round
 
-        plt = get_pyplot()
+        import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
         auto_ticks = plt.xticks()
         auto_ticks_delta = auto_ticks[0][1] - auto_ticks[0][0]
 
@@ -566,7 +566,8 @@ def _plot_well_zlog(self, df, ax, bba, zonelogname, logwidth=4, legend=False):
             df, idx_zshift, ctable, zonelogname, fillnavalue
         )
 
-        mpl = get_matplotlib()
+        import matplotlib as mpl
+
         lc = mpl.collections.LineCollection(
             segments, colors=segments_colors, linewidth=logwidth, zorder=202
         )
@@ -611,7 +612,8 @@ def _plot_well_faclog(self, df, ax, bba, facieslogname, logwidth=9, legend=True)
             df, idx, ctable, facieslogname, fillnavalue
         )
 
-        mpl = get_matplotlib()
+        import matplotlib as mpl
+
         lc = mpl.collections.LineCollection(
             segments, colors=segments_colors, linewidth=logwidth, zorder=201
         )
@@ -658,7 +660,8 @@ def _plot_well_perflog(self, df, ax, bba, perflogname, logwidth=12, legend=True)
             df, idx, ctable, perflogname, fillnavalue
         )
 
-        mpl = get_matplotlib()
+        import matplotlib as mpl
+
         lc = mpl.collections.LineCollection(
             segments, colors=segments_colors, linewidth=logwidth, zorder=200
         )
@@ -772,7 +775,8 @@ def _drawproxylegend(self, ax, bba, items, title=None):
         proxies = []
         labels = []
 
-        mpl = get_matplotlib()
+        import matplotlib as mpl
+
         for item in items:
             color = items[item]
             proxies.append(mpl.lines.Line2D([0, 1], [0, 1], color=color, linewidth=5))
diff --git a/src/xtgeo/plot/xtmap.py b/src/xtgeo/plot/xtmap.py
index 5bd5ce3d7..cdf4cfb57 100644
--- a/src/xtgeo/plot/xtmap.py
+++ b/src/xtgeo/plot/xtmap.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 import numpy.ma as ma
 
 from xtgeo.common import null_logger
-from xtgeo.common._import_mpl import get_matplotlib, get_pyplot
 
 from .baseplot import BasePlot
 
@@ -118,7 +117,8 @@ def plot_surface(
         levels = np.linspace(minvalue, maxvalue, self.contourlevels)
         logger.debug("Number of contour levels: %s", levels)
 
-        plt = get_pyplot()
+        import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
         plt.setp(self._ax.xaxis.get_majorticklabels(), rotation=xlabelrotation)
 
         # zi = ma.masked_where(zimask, zi)
@@ -141,7 +141,8 @@ def plot_surface(
 
             else:
                 logger.info("use LogLocator")
-                mpl = get_matplotlib()
+                import matplotlib as mpl
+
                 locator = mpl.ticker.LogLocator()
                 ticks = None
                 uselevels = None
@@ -175,8 +176,9 @@ def plot_faults(
 
         .. _Matplotlib: http://matplotlib.org/api/colors_api.html
         """
+        import matplotlib as mpl
+
         aff = fpoly.dataframe.groupby(idname)
-        mpl = get_matplotlib()
 
         for name, _group in aff:
             # make a dataframe sorted on faults (groupname)
diff --git a/src/xtgeo/surface/_regsurf_oper.py b/src/xtgeo/surface/_regsurf_oper.py
index d41c9aa57..c17d5fe85 100644
--- a/src/xtgeo/surface/_regsurf_oper.py
+++ b/src/xtgeo/surface/_regsurf_oper.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 import xtgeo
 from xtgeo import XTGeoCLibError, _cxtgeo
 from xtgeo.common import XTGeoDialog, null_logger
-from xtgeo.common._import_mpl import get_matplotlib
 from xtgeo.xyz import Polygons
 
 xtg = XTGeoDialog()
@@ -565,7 +564,8 @@ def _proxy_map_polygons(surf, poly, inside=True):
     xvals, yvals = proxy.get_xy_values(asmasked=False)
     points = np.array([xvals.ravel(), yvals.ravel()]).T
 
-    mpl = get_matplotlib()
+    import matplotlib as mpl
+
     for pol in usepolys:
         idgroups = pol.dataframe.groupby(pol.pname)
         for _, grp in idgroups:
diff --git a/src/xtgeo/xyz/_xyz_oper.py b/src/xtgeo/xyz/_xyz_oper.py
index 7b1a9760b..6cf030a2b 100644
--- a/src/xtgeo/xyz/_xyz_oper.py
+++ b/src/xtgeo/xyz/_xyz_oper.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 import xtgeo
 from xtgeo import _cxtgeo
 from xtgeo.common import XTGeoDialog, null_logger
-from xtgeo.common._import_mpl import get_matplotlib
 
 xtg = XTGeoDialog()
 logger = null_logger(__name__)
@@ -40,7 +39,8 @@ def mark_in_polygons_mpl(self, poly, name, inside_value, outside_value):
 
     self.dataframe[name] = outside_value
 
-    mpl = get_matplotlib()
+    import matplotlib as mpl
+
     for pol in usepolys:
         idgroups = pol.dataframe.groupby(pol.pname)
         for _, grp in idgroups: