Over the years, several analytical methods have been applied to various heavy crude oil residua and their processed products to understand the chemistry behind residuum upgrading processes. The ultimate aim has been to predict prccessability of specific feeds. However, few, if any analytical methods have been found which adequately perform this task. This paper examines selected processing experiments by the following techniques – clusion chromatography with element specific detection, D 2007-80 with as-phaltene precipitation (SARA) separation, hydrogen distribution and incorporation by NMR – cusses whether the analytical technique has any potential to predict prccessability