Precipitation of asphaltenes causes large losses to the petroleum industry. Therefore, dispersant additives are generally used to prevent this precipitation. On the other hand, some studies indicate that asphaltenes can be stabilized by the presence of resins, but the mechanism by which asphaltenes are stabilized by resins or dispersant additives is not fully understood. The objective of this paper was study the interaction between asphaltenes and resins. For this, the solubility parameter range of the resins with or without the presence of asphaltenes was determined by ultraviolet-visible spectrometry. By microcalorimetry, the interaction enthalpies between resins and asphaltenes were determined, as well as it were studied the interaction heats of two dispersant agents and asphaltenes mixtures. The results showed that the resins tested were able to stabilize the asphaltenes by interacting strongly with them and modifying their solubility parameters. Furthermore, the most effective stabilizing additive presented an exothermic interaction with asphaltenes. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.