The present invention provides a method of producing oligomers of olefins, comprising reacting olefins with a catalyst under oligomerization conditions. The catalyst can be the product of the combination of a chromium compound and a pyridyl amine or a heteroaryl-amine compound. In particular embodiments, the catalyst compound can be used to trimerize or tetramerize ethylene to 1-hexene, 1-octene, or mixtures of 1-hexene and 1-octene.