Exopolysaccharide produced by a marine Enterobacter cloaceae (designated as EPS 71a) emulsified hexane, benzene, xylene, kerosene, paraffin oil, cottonseed oil, coconut oil, jojoba oil, castor oil, groundnut oil and sunflower oil. However, it could form stable emulsions with groundnut oil and hexane at optimal concentration of 1 mg ml(-1). Further increase in concentration of EPS 71a did not show noteworthy increase in emulsification indices. Emulsions with groundnut oil and hexane were stable up to 10 days between pH 2 and 10 and in the presence of sodium chloride in the range of 5-50 mg ml(-1) at 35-37 degrees C. EPS 71a formed stable emulsion with xylene as compared to commercial gums such as arabic, tragacanth, karaya and xanthan. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.