Cross Packaging History

In 1999, Cross Oil Refining & Marketing, Inc., an Arkansas based refiner of naphthenic process and base oils, began searching for a downstream blending and packaging company to serve as a guaranteed outlet for the refinery’s base stocks. That search was concluded in 2000 when Unimark Oil Company was founded with the purchase of the assets of the Gard Corporation in Kansas City, Kansas. Gard was a well known, privately owned blender and packager of automotive, industrial and military lubricants, doing business throughout the midwest.

The new company was started as an LLC and named Unimark Oil Company, an acronym for Union County Marketing, the Arkansas county in which Cross Oil is located. Unimark was totally acquired by Cross Oil in 2002 and now operates as a separate division - Cross Packaging.

To complement the existing Gard® brand , the Xtreme™ brand of lubricants was developed in 2001 and the SynGard™ line of synthetic lubricants was re-introduced in 2007. The three lines now include passenger car and heavy duty engine oils, transmission fluids, hydraulic oils, tractor transmission fluids, gear oils, and a wide range of industrial lubricants and functional fluids. All products are blended to current API and SAE specifications and carefully controlled by the Cross ISO 9001:2000 certified laboratory.

In 2002, a second plant was begun on the grounds of the refinery in south Arkansas. This plant began production in december 2002 with the filling of five gallon pails, drums and bulk lubricants. Since 2002, Cross has completed six major expansions of plant and equipment at the Arkansas location, with a seventh expansion currently underway. A state-of-the-art 120,000 sq. ft. warehouse was completed in mid 2008 and a new high speed quart filling line is being relocated and expanded in 2009. High speed palletizing equipment is also being installed on all lines.

Complementing the equipment expansion is the addition of 27 bulk storage tanks. The Arkansas plant now has 2.8 million gallons of bulk storage and operates eight filling lines. Kansas City operates four lines and has an additional one million gallons of bulk storage. Southern U.S. distribution is from the main plant at the refinery, with Central U.S. distribution from the original 65,000 sq. ft. plant in Kansas City.

In addition to the Xtreme™, SynGard™ & Gard® product lines, Cross is packaging private label products for major oil companies, farm store chains, and auto parts wholesalers and is exporting finished lubricants throughout the world.

Cross Packaging and Cross Oil Refining & Marketing, Inc. are wholly owned by Martin Resource Management Corporation. Martin is a diversified company with interests in LPG gas, transportation, fertilizer, sulphur, marine midstream fueling and service, marine bulk terminaling, lubricants manufacturing and distribution, and crude oil gathering and supply.