BACKGROUND: Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX), which are volatile aromatic hydrocarbons and main constituents of gasoline, are neuro-carcinogenic organic pollutants in soil and groundwater. Korea Ministry of Environment has established the maximum permissible level of BTEX in arable soil to 1, 20, 50 and 15 mg/kg, respectively. METHODS AND RESULTS: To understand an arable soil contamination by BTEX, we collected 92 samples from the arable lands around oil reservoir, and analyzed the BTEX residue using a GC-MS with head-space sampler. A linear correlation between BTEX concentration and peak areas was detected with coefficient correlations in the range of 0.9807-0.9995. The method LOQ of BTEX was 0.002, 0.014, 0.084, and 0.038 mg/kg, respectively. Recoveries of 0.5 mg/kg BTEX were found to be 73.7-96.9%. The precision was reliable since RSD percentage (0.7-7.5%) was below 30, which was the normal percent value. Also, BTEX in all samples were detected under the LOQ. CONCLUSION: These results showed that the investigated arable soils around airport and oil reservoir in Korea were not contaminated by oils.