done by cooling the stream and using one or more high pressure separators 9 these may be two phase separators three phase separators or other gas oil water separation device known in the art however any method of separation can be used in accordance with the invention the composition of gaseous product obtained by treatment of the heavy hydrocarbons in accordance with the process of the present invention will depend on feed properties and typically comprises light hydrocarbons water vapor acid gases e g co 2 and h 2 s methane and hydrogen the effluent water 93 may be used reused or discarded it may be recycled to the water tank 1 the feed water treatment system or to the reaction zone 8 the upgraded hydrocarbon product 92 which is sometimes referred to as u201c synthetic crude u201d herein may be upgraded further or processed into other hydrocarbon products using methods that are known in the hydrocarbon processing art the process of the present process may be carried out as a continuous semi continuous or batch process in the continuous process the entire system operates with a feed stream of oil and a separate feed stream of water and reaches a steady state whereby all the flow rates temperatures pressures and composition of the inlet outlet and recycle streams do not vary appreciably with time while not wishing to be bound to any theory of operation it is believed that one.