Stegner biographer Philip Fradkin said that Stegner was paid for his work and had accordingly permitted an Aramco-published version but did not want that version published as a trade book.
He was a port engineer for Aramco in Saudi Arabia from 1977-8, then chief engineer for Anscar from 1978-9, and Sealink Ferries from Dover from 1979-92.
Prominent members of the tribe include Khalaf ibn Hathal, a poet who rose to prominence during the First Gulf War, Juhayman Al-'Utaybi, the militant who led the 1979 seizure of the Sacred Mosque in Mecca (see Grand Mosque Seizure), and Dhaifallah Al-Rogy Al-'Utaybi, mayor of Dammam and a former executive in the Saudi national oil company, Aramco, and Mutlaq Hamid Al-Otaibi a prominent Saudi Arabian poet.
The child of a Saudi Aramco employee, Almulla was raised inside the Aramco residential camp at Dhahran and learned to play golf at Aramco's Rolling Hills Golf Club.
It was founded as a joint venture between the Standard Oil company of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil), Standard Oil of California (Chevron), The Texas Company (better known as Texaco, now a part of Chevron), and Socony-Vacuum Oil Company (ExxonMobil), however, it eventually became a fully owned subsidiary of Aramco.