Different spectrometric methods of analysis, including ICP OES, ICP-DRC-MS and Q-ICP-MS, the latter hyphenated to hydride generation, eletrothermal vaporization or ion chromatography have been appliesd to the chemical characterization of 16 crude oils and 41 effluents samples from a petroleum refinery. The specific objective of this study was to get information on the behavior of selenium (Se) and its species along the different processes of generation and treatment of the effluents.Multielemental characterization of effluents by ICP-MS revealed a complex composition of most of them, with high salinity and potential spectral and non spectral interferents present. For this reason, a critical reassessment of the analytical techniques for the determination of total Se and its species was necessary. DRC-ICP-MS and ETV-ICPMS, using CH4 as cell reaction gas, showed their potential for the determination of Se with better detection limits (about 0,05 ug L-1), but also their limitations for the analysis of effluents with high salinity. A large variability in the concentration of Se was observed in the 16 analysed crude oil samples (< 10 ug kg-1 Se until up to 960 ug kg-1), which may explain also the varying concentrations measured in the effluents. Highest concentrations of selenium were measured in samples from the treatment unit for acid waters (up to 1.714 ug L-1). The predominance of selenocyanate (SeCN-1) was confirmed in most of the effluent samples analysed, but also several other species with retention times different from Se(IV), Se(VI) e SeCN - were observed, especially in samples from the treatment plant. Colloidal Se (Seº) was identified in acid waters, probable formed by decomposition of SeCN - or other unstable species under these conditions. Laboratory experiments with selenocyanate solutions confirmed this hypothesis. The speciation profile of samples collected at the same point, but at different time intervals, showed significant variations, not allowing easy comparison of the results obtained in this work with those of other authors.