On September 11, Darwin and Katherine residents were forced to endure rolling blackouts for about seven hours following a gas supply issue from the Bonaparte pipeline.

The pipeline, which is operated by Eni, supplies gas to the Darwin power station but encountered problems when an unmanned offshore rig  experienced a communication failure.

“The unmanned offshore rig at Black Point suffered a technical issue,” Mr Westra van Holthe said.

“The communications equipment on the rig failed, which lead to an automated stop of gas flow.”

The problem led to scheduled rolling blackouts  - most of which lasted for no more than an hour at a time - across parts of the Top End, including Katherine.

In Darwin, rumours of a possible extended power outage led to a frenzy of residents stocking up of fuel and groceries.

While several suburbs in the Katherine region were impacted by the gas supply issue, Mr Westra van Holthe said the problem had been generally avoided locally because of the town’s power station.

“Most of Katherine remained unscathed throughout the rolling blackouts,” he said.

“This is largely due to the Katherine power station running on its diesel reserves.

“Pine Creek, Florina, Mataranka, Katherine East and Katherine South were off between 8pm and 9pm.”

Power and Water Corporation, which operates the facility on Zimin Drive, said in a statement that there was 200,000 litres of usable diesel - enough to provide power for 24 hours - available at the time the rolling blackouts occurred, adding that tanks were refilled the following morning.

“In response to the event, actions were put in place for emergency supply and the tank was refilled on ... September 12,” the statement reads.

Mr Westra van Holthe thanked the community for its patience and said he believed the facility “worked and will serve us well in the wet season to come”.