"An understanding of the nitrogen compounds in petroleum and shale oil is important to solving the problems created by these compounds. Individual nitrogen compounds were isolated from crude oil using liquid-solid and gas-liquid chromatography and chemical treatment. These compounds were identifiied using spectral techniques. Nitrogen compounds in high-boiling shale oil fractions were characterized by mass spectral analyses of thermal diffusion fractions. A new method for determining nitrogen types was applied to fractions from crude oil and shale oil. The results suggest that the major differences are quantitative rather than qualitative."