Process for pretreatment of hydrocarbon oil prior to hydrocracking and fluid catalytic cracking

An improvement in a process for hydrocracking a hydrocarbon oil feedstock containing sulfur and nitrogen compounds and aromatics into lighter lower boiling products comprising:

• a) charging said hydrocarbon oil feedstock and hydrogen to one or more fixed bed hydrocracking zones in one or more hydrocracking reactors containing a hydrocracking catalyst at hydrocracking conditions to produce a lighter hydrocracked product stream;
• the improvement comprising:
• b) passing said feedstock prior to the hydrocracking, along with hydrogen, through one or more pretreatment zones for pretreatment;
• and
• c) contacting said feedstock in said pretreatment zones at a temperature of about 200.degree. C. to 450.degree. C. and a pressure of about 200-300 psig for pretreatment with a sulfided catalyst comprising one or more metals of non-noble Group VIII and one or more metals of Group VIB and optionally one or more elements selected from Group IIIA and Group VA of the Periodic Table, on a carbon support selected from the group consisting essentially or activated carbon find carbon support treated with phosphorous, said support having a BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) surface area greater than 100 m.sup.2 /g, an average Pore Diameter greater than 12.ANG. and a Total Pore Volume greater than 0.3 cc/g.