It is a common knowledge that soil is an important natural resource and plays a key role in climate change and food security. Petroleum products have a negative impact on soil properties, and are difficult to decompose. Prolonged contamination by oil and petroleum products can lead to soil degradation and reduced productivity, therefore, it is becoming increasingly necessary to apply effective measures to control oil contamination. This article presents an assessment of the state of light gray forest soils with long-term oil contamination (starting from the 60-70s of the XX century) in the northern forest-steppe zone of the Republic of Bashkortostan. It is shown that small concentrations of petroleum products are present in the studied areas, as a result of which the hydrophobic properties of the soil are manifested. The processing of multispectral satellite images showed a low NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) index in contaminated areas. The concentrations of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, As, Hg, Ni) contained in the soil do not exceed the permissible values of MPC (maximum permissible concentrations). The results of the research expand knowledge about monitoring soils with long-term oil contamination and complement existing research methods, as well as enable additional measures for soil remediation. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.