Contact of a crude feed with one or more catalysts produces a total product that includes a crude product. The crude feed has a residue content of at least 0.2 grams of residue per gram of crude feed. Methods of preparing the one or more catalysts are described. The crude product is a liquid mixture at 25.degree. C. and 0.101 MPa. One or more properties of the crude product may be changed by at least 10% relative to the respective properties of the crude feed. The crude product may include hydrocarbons with different boiling point distributions.