This book is devoted to the chemistry of oil and petroleum products and covers the broad range of topics from heavy fuel oils, crude oils and (diluted) bitumen to today‘s research on asphaltenes. Recent methods are summarized and the large new groups of chemicals found in oils are identifi ed as well as described. The work points the way for a more complete understanding of the composition of petroleum.

Highlights include:

• An update on oil fi ngerprinting
• New data using Fourier transform mass spectrometry, forensic tools for naphthenic acid fraction compounds in oil sand environmental samples
• Data on vanadium and nickel content changes in the resins of heavy oils, characteristics of their structural and group composition, and the content of heteroatomic (N, S, O) compounds
• Study of asphaltenes using direct molecular imaging employing atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) confi rming early findings of the dominance of the ‘island’ molecular structure
• An update on the Yen-Mullins model of asphaltenes in reservoirs giving the requisite solution to the asphaltene particle size, thus resolving the gravity term for thermodynamic modeling. A modifi ed polymer solution theory, the Flory-Huggins-Zuo (FHZ) EoS, is provided to model asphaltene gradients in reservoirs.
• A suite of oils from the Tarim Basin, Qaidam Basin, Ordos Basin, and Liaohe Basin, China is characterized geochemically to clarify factors that can affect the concentrations and distributions of pyrrolic nitrogen compounds (PNCs) in crude oils.
• An update on biomarkers in crude oils
• Updates on mass spectrometry techniques applicable to crude oils