[en] The mixture of the monocyclic aromatic compounds benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene isomers is defined as BTEX. The presence of BTEX in the environment is regularly associated with petroleum and its byproducts leakages or industrial effluent discharge. BTEX may cause serious problems to human and animal health. Human exposure to these aromatic compounds can lead to eye and skin irritation, central nervous system weakening and bone marrow depression. According to World Health Organization (WHO) benzene can cause cancer development. A new unit process in Centro Experimental Aramar (CEA) using BTEX-containing products will be launched shortly. Therefore, BTEX monitoring will be necessary since effluents release in Brazil is controlled by CONAMA regulations. Besides, as these compounds has never been evaluated in CEA, it is important to provide knowledge on the current BTEX concentration, in order to establish pre-operational values in CEA region and nearby. The CONAMA regulations for BTEX in superficial waters sets very low limits (such as 0,002 mg L- 1 for toluene and 0,005 mg L-1 for benzene). For this reason, it was developed in this work an analytical method by Headspace-GC-MS to achieve these values. The figures of merit determined were limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), precision and accuracy. BTEX was analyzed in superficial waters from three different sampling points at Ipanema River and ground water collected in eight different sampling points. All sampling points were located a ratio 10 km radius from CEA. (author)