A new approach to characterization of the kinematic viscosity of crude oil was developed using gas chromatography. With the LSER equation of Abraham (1993), five parameters (intermolecular interaction terms) were obtained characterizing 25 crude oils physicochemically and allowing kinematic viscosity models to be set up using three different multivariate analysis methods. The validity, chemical sense and applications of these models are discussed. Gas chromatography allows access to physicochemical properties that crude oil behaviour, e.g. viscosity, can be modelled.