AMOCO <AN> OIL RESERVES DOWN, GAS UP IN 1986 Amoco Corp's petroleum liquids reserves total 2.42 billion barrels at the end of 1986, down from 2.77 billion a year earlier, but its natural gas reserves increased to 15.37 trillion cubic feet from 15.14 trillion, the company's annual report said. It said the drop in crude oil and natural gas liquid reserves reflected downward revisions of previous estimates caused by the sharp drop in oil prices last year. This accounted for 178 mln barrels of a worldwide downward revision of 188 mln barrels, with 158 mln barrels of the total revision occurring in the United States, the report said. Amoco said there were upward revisions in the size of its worldwide gas reserves totalling 404 billion cubic feet last year, while it discovered 568 billion cubic feet and purchased 298 billion cubic feet of reserves. Production of one trillion cubic feet offset much of these gains, the report said. All of the gas reserve purchases, as well as all of the 14 mln barrels of oil reserves bought in 1986, were in the United States, Amoco said, noting it has spent 1.1 billion dlrs to acquire U.S. producing properties over the past three years. Commenting on 1987, Amoco said acquisitions "will be an integral part of our strategy, should reserves become available at attractive prices." The company said it expects "the marketing climate for natural gas to improve in 1987, which should provide the opportunity for Amoco to expand sales. As prices and demand improve, we are poised to accelerate capital spending on our inventory of attractive opportunities." Amoco previously announced a 1987 capital spending budget of 3.2 billion dlrs. Such spending totaled 3.18 billion dlrs last year, down from 5.31 billion in 1985.