In this ongoing study a hyphenated chemical and statistical method for classification, identification and biodegradation of environmental petroleum spills has been developed. A robust chemometric model (PCA) has been developed using 23 crude oils and applied for identification of an artificial oil spill sample. The utility of the method for fast and improved integration of GCMS peaks in highly complex mixtures is documented and its potential in identification, characterisation and degradation studies is discussed and illustrated by examples.