Crude oil spilled from the Herbaysprit in December 2007 and contaminated Tae Ann Sound shoreline. A weathered oiled sediment collected at the spill area (Tai - Ann beach) from 3 months to 12 months after the spill. The fingerprinting and data interpretation techniques oil spill characterization and identification studies and environmental investigations discussed include oil spill identification protocol. Effects of weathering on hydrocarbon fingerprinting, recognition of distribution patterns of petroleum hydrocarbons, oil type screening and differentiation, analysis of specific marker compounds, determination of diagnostic ratios of specific oil constituents are presented.