Oil production, processing and transport result in accidental spills in a wide range of environments. The choice of land reclamation procedures in these cases depends upon an analysis of oil content throughout the soil profile. Conventional methods for extracting and determining oil content in mineral and organic soils were reviewed and found unsatisfactory for measuring bitumen residues in mineral fines (sludge) resulting from oil sand processing. Common solvents, like toluene and methylene chloride, may not penetrate water-oil films associated with saturated fines. Pretreatment, by drying the sludge at 40 C, greatly improves the efficiency of oil extraction by methylene chloride. Drying an oil contaminated soil sample at higher temperature before oil extraction is not recommended due to loss of oi by volatilization. The chemical and physical properties of the oil-free sample are unaffected by the proposed extraction procedure, thus permitting further analytical measurements on previously contaminated samples.