Abstract: The improved method employs hydrocarbon wax, preferably paraffin wax, as the cleaning agent for petroleum oil spill slicks. The method includes spraying the molten wax on the petroleum oil-covered surface of, for example, an ocean or a coastline, allowing the wax to solidify on such surface, thereby entraining large volumes of hydrocarbon oil, then removing the solidified wax with entrained petroleum oil from the surface. The method is repeated as often as is needed in order to fully strip the surface of the petroleum oil. The wax is recovered by heating the mixture of the solidified wax with the entrained petroleum oil therein until the wax melts, after which it is decanted from the petroleum oil and is ready for reuse in the method. Preferably, the molten wax is paraffin heated to about 75.degree.-100.degree. C. in order to fully fluidize it so that it can be sprayed easily onto the oil-fouled surface.