that the production of oil had reached 1.55 million barrels per day the previous week, almost pre-war levels. However, by September 2013, armed groups were blockading oilfields, cutting production to about 100,000 barrels per day, leading to some fuel shortages and blackouts. Many in the armed groups were current and former employees of units set up to secure the oilfields, reacting to corruption and low pay. In September 2014 there were armed clashes near the El Sharara oil field and the Zawiya refinery. After armed opposition groups took control of Tripoli, a rival oil minister, Mashallah al-Zawie, gave a speech at the oil ministry. Public funds At the beginning of the civil war, the UN Security Council froze an estimated $150 billion in foreign Libyan assets. By late November 2011, $18 billion had been released to the NTC by the council's sanctions committee. $3 billion had been made available to the new Libyan government. Meanwhile, demands for wages, medication and reconstruction were putting a strain on Libya's limited supply of cash, causing prices to rise. On 10 December 2011, senior figures in Libya's new leadership wrote a letter to the United Nations, urging it to release the frozen assets which they said were "essential for the economic stability of Libya". Western officials said legal complications prevented the money from being released quickly. A British Foreign Office minister said his administration would release Libyan assets frozen in the United Kingdom once Libyan authorities demonstrated their ability to manage them effectively. On 16 December 2011, the UN Security Council lifted sanctions on Libya's central bank and its offshore subsidiary, Libyan Foreign Bank. Later the same day, the U.S. Treasury Department said it had unblocked more than $30 billion in Libyan government assets. See also 2012 Bani Walid uprising 2012 Benghazi attack (among the reactions to Innocence of Muslims) Gaddafi loyalism after the Libyan Civil War Slavery in the post-Gaddafi era References First Libyan Civil War Military history of Libya Politics of Libya Aftermath of wars Libya Libyan Crisis (2011–present)