In this paper, we analyze Chief Executive Officers' letters to shareholders in the
United States petroleum industry during the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on the
industry's turbulent relationship with OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries). We discuss and deploy the methodology of critical hermeneutics. The
"texts" of the CEO letters, when juxtaposed against the "context" of key historical
events, suggest that these letters were deployed to produce a certain attitude
toward OPEC among their readers that deflected attention from the crisis of legiti
macy faced by the oil companies domestically. We suggest that the trope of Orien
talism helps us understand what exactly the texts sought to achieve through their
pronouncements about OPEC.
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