A biosurfactant-producing bacterial strain was selected from oil-contaminated soil because of its ability to degrade crude oil and tributyrin $(C_{4:0})$. The strain was identified as Bacillus subtilis A8-8 based on its morphological, biochemical, and physiological characteristics. When B. subtilis A8-8 was grown with crude oil as the sole carbon source, the biosurfactant from the strain emulsified crude oil, vegetable oil, and hydrocarbons. Soybean oil was the optimum substrate for the emulsifying activity and emulsion stability of the biosurfactant, both of which were superior to those of several commercially available surfactants. The biosurfactant was purified by a procedure including HCl precipitation, methanol treatment, and silica-gel chromatography. The partially purified biosurfactant was analyzed by TLC (thin-layer chromatography), SDS-PAGE, and HPLC and it reduced the surface tension of water from 72 mN/m to 26 mN/m at a concentration of 30 mg/l. Therefore, the purified lipopeptide biosurfactant has strong properties as an emulsifying agent and acts as an emulsion-stabilizing agent.