Viscosity values (mu) were measured at different temperatures (40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 degrees C) for a set of dead oils from the Liaohe basin, NE China, covering a viscosity range from 76 to 34,590 mPa center dot s at 50 degrees C. A good relationship emerges between temperature and viscosity and a corresponding viscosity-temperature correlation with a high coefficient was obtained for every oil sample. Detailed investigations revealed that mu(T) (viscosity values at temperature T = 60, 70, 80, and 90 degrees C) shows a strong function of mu(50) (viscosity value at 50 degrees C) in the form of mu(T) = a mu(b)(50), in which the parameters a and b show a function of temperature [a = f(T) and b = f1(T)] with high coefficients. Therefore, a new simple correlation for predicting oil viscosity has been deduced as a function of temperature and mu(50) in the form of mu(T) = f(T) mu(f1(T))(50) with only two input parameters temperature and viscosity at 50 degrees C. The validity of the model for Liaohe heavy oils has been tentatively confirmed by a set of experimental data from the laboratory of the Liaohe Oil Field with most errors less than 100% for the viscosity prediction at 100 degrees C. The correlation reported in this paper may provide an alternative method to predict the viscosity for dead oils, especially for heavy oils with mu(50) even up to 160,000 mPa center dot s in the Liaohe basin.