diff --git a/cogl/Makefile.am b/cogl/Makefile.am
index 8f3480825..1d610a1bb 100644
--- a/cogl/Makefile.am
+++ b/cogl/Makefile.am
@@ -159,6 +159,8 @@ cogl_gl_prototypes_h = \
 	$(NULL)
 
 cogl_driver_sources += \
+	$(srcdir)/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl-private.h \
+	$(srcdir)/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl.c \
 	$(srcdir)/driver/gl/cogl-framebuffer-gl-private.h \
 	$(srcdir)/driver/gl/cogl-framebuffer-gl.c \
 	$(srcdir)/driver/gl/cogl-texture-2d-gl-private.h \
diff --git a/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-texture-2d-gl.c b/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-texture-2d-gl.c
index 7c344acd2..224436f44 100644
--- a/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-texture-2d-gl.c
+++ b/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-texture-2d-gl.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 #include "cogl-texture-2d-private.h"
 #include "cogl-pipeline-opengl-private.h"
 #include "cogl-error-private.h"
+#include "cogl-util-gl-private.h"
 
 void
 _cogl_texture_2d_gl_free (CoglTexture2D *tex_2d)
@@ -97,6 +98,7 @@ _cogl_texture_2d_gl_new_with_size (CoglContext *ctx,
   GLenum gl_intformat;
   GLenum gl_format;
   GLenum gl_type;
+  GLenum gl_error;
 
   internal_format = ctx->driver_vtable->pixel_format_to_gl (ctx,
                                                             internal_format,
@@ -113,8 +115,19 @@ _cogl_texture_2d_gl_new_with_size (CoglContext *ctx,
   _cogl_bind_gl_texture_transient (GL_TEXTURE_2D,
                                    tex_2d->gl_texture,
                                    tex_2d->is_foreign);
-  GE( ctx, glTexImage2D (GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, gl_intformat,
-                         width, height, 0, gl_format, gl_type, NULL) );
+
+  /* Clear any GL errors */
+  while ((gl_error = ctx->glGetError ()) != GL_NO_ERROR)
+    ;
+
+  ctx->glTexImage2D (GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, gl_intformat,
+                     width, height, 0, gl_format, gl_type, NULL);
+
+  if (_cogl_gl_util_catch_out_of_memory (ctx, error))
+    {
+      cogl_object_unref (tex_2d);
+      return NULL;
+    }
 
   return tex_2d;
 }
diff --git a/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl-private.h b/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl-private.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..332df4fab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl-private.h
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * Cogl
+ *
+ * An object oriented GL/GLES Abstraction/Utility Layer
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2012 Intel Corporation.
+ *
+ * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+ * version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License along with this library. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ *
+ * Authors:
+ *  Robert Bragg   <robert@linux.intel.com>
+ */
+
+#ifndef _COGL_UTIL_GL_PRIVATE_H_
+
+#include "cogl-types.h"
+
+CoglBool
+_cogl_gl_util_catch_out_of_memory (CoglContext *ctx, CoglError **error);
+
+#endif /* _COGL_UTIL_GL_PRIVATE_H_ */
diff --git a/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl.c b/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b0033c156
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-util-gl.c
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/*
+ * Cogl
+ *
+ * An object oriented GL/GLES Abstraction/Utility Layer
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2012 Intel Corporation.
+ *
+ * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+ * version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License along with this library. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ *
+ * Authors:
+ *  Robert Bragg   <robert@linux.intel.com>
+ */
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include "config.h"
+#endif
+
+#include "cogl-types.h"
+#include "cogl-context-private.h"
+#include "cogl-error-private.h"
+#include "cogl-internal.h"
+#include "cogl-util-gl-private.h"
+
+CoglBool
+_cogl_gl_util_catch_out_of_memory (CoglContext *ctx, CoglError **error)
+{
+  GLenum gl_error;
+  CoglBool out_of_memory = FALSE;
+
+  while ((gl_error = ctx->glGetError ()) != GL_NO_ERROR)
+    {
+      if (gl_error == GL_OUT_OF_MEMORY)
+        out_of_memory = TRUE;
+#ifdef COGL_GL_DEBUG
+      else
+        {
+          g_warning ("%s: GL error (%d): %s\n",
+                     G_STRLOC,
+                     gl_error,
+                     _cogl_gl_error_to_string (gl_error));
+        }
+#endif
+    }
+
+  if (out_of_memory)
+    {
+      _cogl_set_error (error, COGL_SYSTEM_ERROR,
+                       COGL_SYSTEM_ERROR_NO_MEMORY,
+                       "Out of memory");
+      return TRUE;
+    }
+
+  return FALSE;
+}