Patent ID: 7037724

Claim:
A method for determining the storage stability of crude oil or crude oil admixtures comprising the steps of: (a) determining a first value representing the content of unprecipitated asphaltenes in the crude oil or crude oil admixture; (b) holding the crude oil or crude oil admixture for a period of time at standard conditions; (c) determining a second value representing the content of unprecipitated asphaltenes in the crude oil or crude oil admixture; (d) estimating the storage stability of the crude oil or crude oil admixture, the estimation being based upon the difference, if any between the first value and second value wherein the determining of a first or second value representing the content of unprecipitated asphaltenes in the crude oil or crude oil admixture is done using a sensor and wherein the sensor is a fiber optic attenuated total reflectance probe.