Argentina has seen a change in crude oil production in recent years, in particular as a result of light tight oils (LTOs) from shale plays. Compared to crude oil from conventional oil wells, LTOs offer unique challenges to refiners. LTOs are often paraffinic and easy to crack, have low sulfur, have low amounts of contaminants such as nickel and vanadium, but introduce the complexity of increased iron content. This presentation will give an overview of operating and catalyst technology strategies to overcome the challenges of processing LTOs in the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit. The paraffinic nature of LTOs can lead to several operational changes in the FCC unit; the FCC might not produce enough coke which can affect heat balance, and LTOs typically produce higher amounts of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which may constrain the wet gas compressor. These feeds often contain higher iron than conventional crudes, which impacts the catalyst. FCC catalysts are based on Y-zeolite structures and chemistry, and the structure-function relationships between zeolites and crude oils are important. The impact of added iron from feeds continues to be researched by BASF to expand on the understanding of iron contamination of FCC catalysts. The research presented here will detail both the physical and chemical impacts of iron contamination, both of which impact FCC unit operations. Examples of the impacts include surface nodule formation, dehydrogenation activity, CO promotion activity, SOx emissions, slurry yields, and bottoms cracking impacts. Also to be discussed are catalyst technologies capable of withstanding iron poisoning and case studies from refineries processing tight oils who are faced with increased iron in the crude oil slate. This type of research and understanding allows the refining industry to continue taking advantage of this competitive natural resource.