Oil futures traded slightly lower in the early part of Monday’s Asian session on news that some of Libya’s previously lost production has been restored and on news that market speculators have reduced their long exposure to crude.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for November delivery inched down 0.06% to USD104.69 per barrel in Asian trading Monday. The November contract settled lower by 1.05% at USD104.75 per barrel last Friday.

Oil prices rallied more than 2% on Wednesday after the Fed decided to leave its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program unchanged.

The decision surprised markets, which had been expecting the central bank to taper its monthly stimulus program by USD10 billion to USD15 billion. Still, the tapering conversation is far from over. In fact, expectations are in place that the Fed could begin trimming its asset purchases as soon as next month. Many market observers expect some form of tapering to be seen by the end of this year at the very latest.

Commodities slid last Friday after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the decision not to taper in September was “close” and did not rule out a small reduction in the central bank's bond purchases in October. The Fed will hold its next monetary policy meeting on Oct. 29-30.

Data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission indicate hedge funds and other professional traders pared their long exposure to crude. Long positions in crude fell 3.1% to 280,959 contracts, the lowest since early July.

Elsewhere, production from Libya should be up to about 700,000 barrels per day, more than double the current level of 243,000 barrels per day, according to United Press International. Libya, an OPEC member, is home to Africa’s largest oil reserves, but production there has faltered due to political instability and attacks on oil assets.

Meanwhile, Brent futures for November delivery fell 0.17% to USD109.07 per barrel.