A method for chlorine determination in crude oil samples, through the formation of MgCl molecule, by high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry (HR-CS GF MAS) was developed and is described in this paper. The use of this molecule for chlorine determination in crude oil has not been reported up to now. Measures were carried out at the wavelength 377.010 nm and the samples were submitted to a simple treatment as emulsion, whose composition was optimized applying a simplex-centroid experimental design. Magnesium was used as molecule forming agent at the concentration of 10 g L -1 , at least 500 times higher than the concentration of chlorine. This excess is required to ensure the molecule formation of all content of Cl present in the sample. Chemical modifier Pd was used and improved greatly the signal intensities. Optimized pyrolysis and vaporization temperatures, applied for determination, were 800 and 2300 °C, respectively. Accuracy was evaluated through analysis of certified reference materials, NIST 1848 and NIST 1634c, and addition and recovery tests with recoveries between 92 and 117%. Limits of detection and quantification were 3.0 and 9.0 µg g -1 , respectively. The method was applied to eight crude oil samples.