Conventional rules for assessment of naphthenic acid / sulfidic corrosion and consequent operating risk have evolved over several decades. These rules primarily based on experience may translate poorly to processing of new crude oils often leading to over-conservative alloy requirements or inspection schedules or unknown levels of operational risk. Several laboratory techniques have been used historically for the assessment of crude corrosivity corrosion by high temperature non-aqueous attack from naphthenic acids or sulfur species. This paper presents a refined experimental approach for the assessment of crude corrosivity of side-cut oil fractions. Stirred oil autoclaves were utilized to expose coupons of several relevant alloys to synthetic oil fractions representative of vacuum gas oils containing a range of acid and sulfur content. Naphthenic acid chemistry and selection of acids for evaluation of crude corrosivity are reviewed. Details of experimental procedures including oil replenishment test vessel pressure test duration and analysis for sulfur content are discussed. The test protocols described were utilized in a 3-year joint industry funded research program on crude corrosivity the findings of which will be presented in future papers.