In an attempt to examine the suitability of chemical fingerprinting methods in oil spill investigations, multiple parameters sensitive to both sources and degree of weathering were used to characterize spilled oil samples and to distinguish spilled hydrocarbons from sources unrelated to the spill in shoreline of the Gulf of Suez, Egypt. The characterizations of individual aliphatic and aromatic compounds were based on gas chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analyses. The distribution of n-alkanes, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and alkyl PAHs in the source oil and an oil slick collected 72 h after the spill were very similar. Major compositional changes observed in a weathered oiled sediment collected nine months after the spill from the shoreline at the spill location were consistent with previous studies. Molecular parameters of hopane and sterane biomarkers were very similar in the source oil, the spilled oil and the highly weathered oiled sediment. The similarity in biomarker compositions provided a strong evidence for a close genetic association of these samples. Ratios Of C-2-chrysenes/C-2-phenantherenes and C-2-chrysenes/C-2-dibenzothiophenes, the pregnane index (sum of the concentrations Of C-21 and C-22 steranes; over total concentration of steranes; x 100), and the tricyclic terpane index (sum of the concentrations of C-19 and C-30 tricyclic terpanes; over total concentration of terpanes x 100) clearly differentiated the refined oil products from crude oils. The composition of bilge oil indicated enrichment of late eluting steranes and terpanes; and showed biomarker distributions similar to natural petroleum. The results further support that sterane and terpane biomarker analyses could differentiate oil samples of different sources even though they were sometimes indistinguishable in PAH and alkane compositions. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.