diff --git a/src/binary.cpp b/src/binary.cpp
index f392da6..3e9c4e6 100644
--- a/src/binary.cpp
+++ b/src/binary.cpp
@@ -173,23 +173,17 @@ static void set_resp_error(ch_binary_response_t * resp, const char * str)
  */
 static QuerySettings ch_binary_settings(const ch_query *query)
 {
-   ListCell   *lc;
-   auto res = QuerySettings{};
-   foreach (lc, (List *) query->settings)
-   {
-		/*
-		 * foreach reads a non-const, so we have to cast. Would be nice to use
-		 * foreach_ptr:
-		 *
-		 *     foreach_ptr(DefElem, setting, query->settings)
-		 *
-		 * But it's only available in Postgres 17 and later.
-		*/
-       DefElem    *setting = (DefElem *) lfirst(lc);
-       res.insert_or_assign(setting->defname, QuerySettingsField{strVal(setting->arg), 1});
-   }
+	int	   i;
+	kv_pair *pair;
+	auto res = QuerySettings{};
 
-   return res;
+	for (i = 0; i < query->settings->length; i++)
+	{
+		pair = query->settings->items[i];
+		res.insert_or_assign(pair->name, QuerySettingsField{pair->value, 1});
+	}
+
+	return res;
 }
 
 static void set_state_error(ch_binary_read_state_t * state, const char * str)
diff --git a/src/http.c b/src/http.c
index c67097f..3b9128c 100644
--- a/src/http.c
+++ b/src/http.c
@@ -158,8 +158,8 @@ ch_http_simple_query(ch_http_connection_t * conn, const ch_query * query)
 	static char errbuffer[CURL_ERROR_SIZE];
 	struct curl_slist *headers = NULL;
 	CURLU	   *cu = curl_url();
-	ListCell   *lc;
-	DefElem    *setting;
+	int			i;
+	kv_pair    *pair;
 	char	   *buf = NULL;
 
 	ch_http_response_t *resp = calloc(sizeof(ch_http_response_t), 1);
@@ -178,10 +178,11 @@ ch_http_simple_query(ch_http_connection_t * conn, const ch_query * query)
 	pfree(buf);
 
 	/* Append each of the settings as a query param. */
-	foreach(lc, (List *) query->settings)
+
+	for (i = 0; i < query->settings->length; i++)
 	{
-		setting = (DefElem *) lfirst(lc);
-		buf = psprintf("%s=%s", setting->defname, strVal(setting->arg));
+		pair = query->settings->items[i];
+		buf = psprintf("%s=%s", pair->name, pair->value);
 		curl_url_set(cu, CURLUPART_QUERY, buf, CURLU_APPENDQUERY | CURLU_URLENCODE);
 		pfree(buf);
 	}
diff --git a/src/include/engine.h b/src/include/engine.h
index 3685376..4600a60 100644
--- a/src/include/engine.h
+++ b/src/include/engine.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #ifndef CLICKHOUSE_ENGINE_H
 #define CLICKHOUSE_ENGINE_H
 
-#include "nodes/pathnodes.h"
+#include "kv_list.h"
 
 /*
  * ch_connection_details defines the details for connecting to ClickHouse.
@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ typedef struct
  */
 typedef struct
 {
-	const char	   *sql;
-	const List	   *settings;
-}			ch_query;
+   const char     *sql;
+   const kv_list    *settings;
+}          ch_query;
 
-#define new_query(sql) {sql, chfdw_parse_options(ch_session_settings, true, false)}
+#define new_query(sql) {sql, chfdw_get_session_settings()}
 
 #endif							/* CLICKHOUSE_ENGINE_H */
diff --git a/src/include/fdw.h b/src/include/fdw.h
index 378bef9..0658d27 100644
--- a/src/include/fdw.h
+++ b/src/include/fdw.h
@@ -199,7 +199,8 @@ extern void chfdw_report_error(int elevel, ch_connection conn,
 							   bool clear, const char *sql);
 
 /* in option.c */
-extern char *ch_session_settings;
+extern kv_list * chfdw_get_session_settings(void);
+
 extern void
 			chfdw_extract_options(List * defelems, char **driver, char **host, int *port,
 								  char **dbname, char **username, char **password);
diff --git a/src/include/kv_list.h b/src/include/kv_list.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e650275
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/include/kv_list.h
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#ifndef PG_CLICKHOUSE_KV_LIST_H
+#define PG_CLICKHOUSE_KV_LIST_H
+
+#include <stdbool.h>
+#include "postgres.h"
+#include "nodes/pathnodes.h"
+
+/* A key/value pair. */
+typedef struct kv_pair
+{
+	char	   *name;
+	char	   *value;
+}			kv_pair;
+
+/*
+ * A simple data structure with a list of key/value string pairs. Use
+ * new_kv_list_from_list() to create.
+ *
+ *     kv_list * pairs = new_kv_list_from_pg_list(list);
+ *     if (!kv_list)
+ *     {
+ *          printf("out of memory\n");
+ *          exit(1);
+ *     }
+ *
+ *     for (int i = 0; i < kv_list->length; i++) {
+ *         kv_pair * pair = kv_list->items[i];
+ *         printf("%s => %s\n", pair->name, pair->value);
+ *     }
+ *
+ *     kv_list_free(pairs);
+ */
+typedef struct kv_list
+{
+	int			length;
+	kv_pair		**items;
+}			kv_list;
+
+/*
+ * Create an empty kv_list, with length set to zero and items uninitialized.
+*/
+kv_list * new_empty_kv_list(void);
+
+/*
+ * Create a new kv_list from a PostgreSQL List of DefElem. Logs an error
+ * message and returns NULL on memory errors.
+*/
+kv_list * new_kv_list_from_pg_list(List * list);
+
+/* Frees the memory owned by the kv_list. */
+void kv_list_free(kv_list * pairs);
+
+#endif							/* PG_CLICKHOUSE_KV_LIST_H */
diff --git a/src/kv_list.c b/src/kv_list.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2424a17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/kv_list.c
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+#include <stddef.h>
+#include "kv_list.h"
+#include "utils/elog.h"
+#include "nodes/pathnodes.h"
+#include "utils/guc.h"
+
+extern kv_list * new_empty_kv_list(void)
+{
+	kv_list    *pairs = (kv_list *) malloc(sizeof(kv_list));
+
+	if (pairs == NULL)
+	{
+		ereport(LOG, errcode(ERRCODE_FDW_OUT_OF_MEMORY), errmsg("out of memory"));
+		return NULL;
+	}
+	pairs->length = 0;
+	return pairs;
+}
+
+extern kv_list * new_kv_list_from_pg_list(List * list)
+{
+	ListCell   *lc;
+	DefElem    *elem;
+	kv_list    *pairs;
+	int			i = 0;
+
+	/* Allocate the memory for the pairs object. */
+	pairs = (kv_list *) malloc(sizeof(kv_list));
+	if (pairs == NULL)
+	{
+		ereport(LOG, errcode(ERRCODE_FDW_OUT_OF_MEMORY), errmsg("out of memory"));
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	/* Allocate the memory for kv_pair pointers to all the items in list. */
+	pairs->items = (kv_pair * *) malloc(list_length(list) * sizeof(kv_pair *));
+	if (pairs->items == NULL)
+	{
+		free(pairs);
+		ereport(LOG, errcode(ERRCODE_FDW_OUT_OF_MEMORY), errmsg("out of memory"));
+		return NULL;
+	}
+	pairs->length = list_length(list);
+
+	/* Copy the values from list into pairs. */
+	foreach(lc, list)
+	{
+		kv_pair    *pair = malloc(sizeof(kv_pair));
+
+		if (!pair)
+		{
+			kv_list_free(pairs);
+			ereport(LOG, errcode(ERRCODE_FDW_OUT_OF_MEMORY), errmsg("out of memory"));
+			return NULL;
+		}
+		elem = (DefElem *) lfirst(lc);
+		pair->name = strdup(elem->defname);
+		pair->value = strdup(strVal(elem->arg));
+		if (!pair->name || !pair->value)
+		{
+			kv_list_free(pairs);
+			ereport(LOG, errcode(ERRCODE_FDW_OUT_OF_MEMORY), errmsg("out of memory"));
+			return NULL;
+		}
+		pairs->items[i] = pair;
+		i++;
+	}
+
+	return pairs;
+}
+
+extern void
+kv_list_free(kv_list * pairs)
+{
+	if (pairs == NULL)
+		return;
+	for (int i = 0; i < pairs->length; i++)
+		if (pairs->items[i] != NULL)
+		{
+			if (pairs->items[i]->name)
+				free(pairs->items[i]->name);
+			if (pairs->items[i]->value)
+				free(pairs->items[i]->value);
+			free(pairs->items[i]);
+		}
+	free(pairs->items);
+	free(pairs);
+}
diff --git a/src/option.c b/src/option.c
index 8b99229..8b49902 100644
--- a/src/option.c
+++ b/src/option.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #include "postgres.h"
 
 #include "fdw.h"
+#include "kv_list.h"
 
 #include "access/reloptions.h"
 #include "catalog/pg_foreign_server.h"
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@
 #include "nodes/makefuncs.h"
 #include "utils/guc.h"
 #include "utils/varlena.h"
+#include "utils/builtins.h"
 
 static char *DEFAULT_DBNAME = "default";
 
@@ -66,7 +68,8 @@ static const ChFdwOption ch_options[] =
 /*
  * GUC parameters
  */
-char	   *ch_session_settings = NULL;
+static char *ch_session_settings = NULL;
+static kv_list * ch_session_settings_list = NULL;
 
 /*
  * Helper functions
@@ -469,35 +472,79 @@ chfdw_parse_options(const char *options_string, bool with_comma, bool with_equal
 		/*
 		 * Now that we have the name and the value, store the record.
 		 */
-		options = lappend(options, makeDefElem(strdup(pname), (Node *) makeString(strdup(pval)), -1));
+		options = lappend(options, makeDefElem(pstrdup(pname), (Node *) makeString(pstrdup(pval)), -1));
 	}
 
 	return options;
 }
 
 /*
- * check_settings_guc
- *
+ * Return the current list of current session settings parsed from the
+ * session_settings GUC.
+ */
+kv_list    *
+chfdw_get_session_settings()
+{
+	return ch_session_settings_list;
+}
+
+/*
  * Validates the provided settings key/value pairs.
  */
 static bool
-check_settings_guc(char **newval, void **extra, GucSource source)
+chfdw_check_settings_guc(char **newval, void **extra, GucSource source)
 {
 	/*
 	 * The value may be an empty string, so we have to accept that value.
+	 * Leave extra unset; chfdw_settings_assign_hook() will assign NULL to
+	 * ch_session_settings_list.
 	 */
 	if (*newval == NULL || *newval[0] == '\0')
 		return true;
 
-	/*
-	 * Make sure we can parse the settings.
-	 */
+	/* Make sure we can parse the settings. */
 	chfdw_parse_options(*newval, true, false);
 
+	/* All good if no errors. */
+	return true;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Assigns the kv_list stored in extra to the ch_session_settings_list global.
+ */
+static void
+chfdw_settings_assign_hook(const char *newval, void *extra)
+{
 	/*
-	 * All good if no error.
+	 * From PostgreSQL's POV: (a) failure here is not acceptable, and (b) it
+	 * is not necessarily called inside a transaction, so e.g. catalog lookups
+	 * are not okay. IOW, keep it as simple as possible, and leave error
+	 * returning behavior to chfdw_check_settings_guc(). Therefore wrap the
+	 * parsing in PG_TRY() to prevent errors.
 	 */
-	return true;
+	kv_list_free(ch_session_settings_list);
+	PG_TRY();
+	{
+		if (newval == NULL || newval[0] == '\0')
+			ch_session_settings_list = new_empty_kv_list();
+		else
+		{
+			List	   *list = chfdw_parse_options(newval, true, false);
+
+			ch_session_settings_list = new_kv_list_from_pg_list(list);
+		}
+	}
+	PG_CATCH();
+	{
+		/*
+		 * This should not happen, since chfdw_check_settings_guc successfully
+		 * parsed the options, but we could get here due to memory errors.
+		 */
+		ereport(LOG,
+				(errcode(ERRCODE_FDW_ERROR),
+				 errmsg("unexpected error parsing \"%s\"", newval)));
+	}
+	PG_END_TRY();
 }
 
 /*
@@ -522,8 +569,8 @@ _PG_init(void)
 							   "join_use_nulls 1, group_by_use_nulls 1, final 1",
 							   PGC_USERSET,
 							   0,
-							   check_settings_guc,
-							   NULL,
+							   chfdw_check_settings_guc,
+							   chfdw_settings_assign_hook,
 							   NULL);
 
 #if PG_VERSION_NUM >= 150000