This paper describes a microwave heating technique as a new method for the treatment of oil-contaminated drill cuttings (OCDC). The effects of power, treatment time and moisture content on the thermal desorption of oil were studied, and it was found that under certain operating conditions the oil levels could be reduced to below the current environmental discharge limit of 1%. For a sample mass of 40 g it is shown that approximately 20 s of microwave treatment is required in order to reduce the residual oil levels close to or below the 1% threshold. The major limitation in the minimum achievable residual oil levels appears to be the moisture content, however, it is shown that increasing the amount of water in the samples can potentially overcome such limitations. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.