NullReferenceException while sending to Kafka

[tssidhu]

We are seeing the following exception being generated and can't seem to figure out the reason behind the error. Hoping that someone can help guide us as to where the issue might be.

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
  at KafkaNet.KafkaTcpSocket.<ProcessNetworkstreamTasksReadTask>d__46.MoveNext()
  at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
  at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
  at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncMethodBuilderCore.MoveNextRunner.Run()
  at System.Threading.Tasks.AwaitTaskContinuation.RunOrScheduleAction(Action action, Boolean allowInlining, Task& currentTask)
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
  at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
  at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
  at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
  at System.Threading.QueueUserWorkItemCallback.System.Threading.IThreadPoolWorkItem.ExecuteWorkItem()
  at System.Threading.ThreadPoolWorkQueue.Dispatch()

The producer seems to run fine for sometime and then we see this error.