Аннотация:It is shown that the studied petroleum products, kerosene and gasoline, contain microf loccules ofheterogeneous microbial biofilms, the cells of which are integrated in a polymer matrix containing acidicpolysaccharides. Thirteen bacterial strains were microbiologically isolated from petroleum products, andtheir taxonomy was identified via analysis of the 16S rRNA sequence. Kerosene was characterized by a diversebacterial composition, including the following genera: Sphingobacterium, Alcaligenes, Rhodococcus, andDeinococcus. The gasoline bacterial community included only two genera: Bacillus and Paenibacillus. Repre-sentatives of the Deinococcus genus that are capable of growing on hydrocarbons were isolated from fuels forthe first time. Strains isolated from gasoline (Bacillus safensis Bi13 and Bacillus sp. Bi14) proved to be themost effective biodegraders of all n-alkanes, isoalkanes, cycloalkanes, alkenes, and aromatic hydrocarbons,whereas the strain Rhodococcus erythropolis Bi6, which was isolated from kerosene, effectively decomposedonly n-alkanes and trimethylbenzene. Both types of the studied petroleum products contained hydrocarbon-oxidizing communities, some members of which were more active in hydrocarbon biodegradation, while otherswere capable of producing biosurfactants and compounds with emulsifying activity (Deinococcus sp. Bi7) or hadincreased (well above average) cell-wall hydrophobicity (Sphingobacterium sp. Bi5 from kerosene; Bacillus pum-ilus Bi12 from gasoline). The indicated properties of the studied strains make them promising for use in biore-mediation.