The present work entails a study made regarding vanadyl porphyrins distribution of Mexican heavy crude oil from Sonda de Campeche offshore field (drilling range 4350-4371 m) in the southeast of Gulf of Mexico. Furthermore, according to planning request about future trends of refining schemes the distribution of vanadyl porphyrins was investigated in the total heavy crude oil and their distilled residue, free of the asphaltene fraction. Vanadyl-metaloporphyrins were extracted and separated by means of adsorption chromatographic schemes using adsorbents and solvents of increasing polarities. Vanadyl porphyrins were identified and characterized by ultraviolet and visible (UV-vis) spectrophotometry, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS). Results show that vanadyl porphyrins are present in the total crude oil and within the deasphalted residue, namely five homologues series DPEP, ETIO, THBD, ED and B with the ETIO series predominating in deasphalted residue. On the whole, data related to the distribution of vanadyl porphyrins indicates the convenience of using procedures that eliminate asphaltenes in order to remove vanadyl porphyrins and improve the efficiency of catalysts used in different catalytic refining processes.