i was not aware that much of GOM production are sour.  can someone confirm that?

I found one reference on the EIA web site that discusses the sour oil situation, but it is a Powerpoint presentation. Drowning in Sour Oil, Adapting to a New Crude Quality Dynamic, slide 11 reads "Non-OPEC, GOM crude quality deteriorating". It has a chart labeled "Gulf of Mexico crude quality" showing the "sour share". In 2000 it was about 73%, and in 2005 it has increased to 90%.

thx, good to know, the stuff we're losing in the GOM is crappy oil.
It may be crappy, but I was under the impression that the only "spare" capacity in OPEC is equivalently bad (or worse) heavy sour crude from Saudi Arabia. The world's oil supply in general is only tending downward in API and upward in sulfur content.