It Costs $2.2 Million to Refuel the Eclipse Megayacht, and Abramovich Just Did

Before the start of the war in Ukraine, one of the most popular slash famous Russian oligarchs living abroad was Roman Abramovich. The billionaire called the British capital London his home and would often travel around the world in his private jets and custom megayachts, hosting parties and staying at his various homes at some of the most exclusive addresses on earth.

Abramovich was rich and well connected, and he lived the A-list life. It included, among others, the megayacht Eclipse, a 2010 vessel built by Blohm+Voss and considered, to this day, one of the most expensive, technologically-advanced and impressive vessels of all time. If there’s another that bests it, it probably belongs to Abramovich as well: the Solaris megayacht, built by Lloyd Werft and delivered in 2021.

Not much is known about Eclipse because, duh, if you’re a Russian oligarch and love privacy second only to your mother, that’s the whole point of getting your own boat. Chartering is for everyone else peasants. Urban legend claims Eclipse cost between $600 million and $1 billion to build, and that it has anti-paparazzi lasers, armored plating and bulletproof glass, and an anti-ballistic missile defense system for the worst-case scenario.

Officially, Eclipse is 534 feet (162 meters) long and offers 13,000 GT of interior space. Accommodation onboard is for 30 guests and 93 crew, and amenities are top-of-the-line, as you would imagine: gym, spa, cinema, several elevators so you don’t have to tire your billionaire feet walking, outdoor fireplaces, a restaurant, a hair salon, you name it. Eclipse has its own submarine, and two helicopters stored inside dedicated hangars, as well as a packed garage for the more adventurous guests.

The point of all this is that Eclipse is humongous for a personal boat. It cost a lot of money during the construction stage, and it continues to cost a lot of money, even today, when it’s not sailing at all. An industry estimate is that maintenance and assorted fees on a yacht are about 10% of its value even when it never leaves the dock, so that would be at least $60 million per year in the case of Eclipse.

As a curiosity, a complete refuel is just as impressive – in the sense of expensive. To put an exact figure on a full tank, that would be $2.2 million, according to the latest report by superyacht vlogger eSysman. The video below is timed at the segment on Eclipse, which is sourced on an anonymous Turkey-based tipster. eSysman has many years of experience in the yachting industry, not just vlogging, and he says the figure is in the ballpark of an accurate estimate.

Since sanctions against Abramovich went into effect, Eclipse has been in Marmaras, Turkey, to avoid being seized. Reports claim that Abramovich is so broke for liquidities that he’s been asking his famous friends to chip in with one or two million to help him pay for the weekly bills on his luxury assets, Eclipse and Solaris included. Recent reports have also claimed that he may have sold Eclipse or, at the very least, buried his ownership even deeper by switching to another paper owner.

Whatever the truth, someone has enough money to pay for fuel: eSysman reports that Eclipse refueled late last week from a bunker barge and that the 1 million liters (264,172 gallons) of fuel cost a whopping $2.2 million. That sounds excessive for a ship that’s not going anywhere anytime soon because of the sanctions, so it does beg the question: is Eclipse preparing to sail off?

In turn, this brings us to square one: it looks like Abramovich is getting ready to move his prized megayacht, the crown jewel of all his luxury assets. It’s just speculation at this point, but it carries some weight in light of another recent report that said Solaris was being resupplied weekly, including with water, food supplies, and fuel. The same report noted that Solaris still housed a permanent, though skeleton crew.

If neither megayacht is preparing to leave Turkey, these expenses are perhaps even more telling. If you recall, the goal of sanctions was to cut off the financial support for Putin’s war in Ukraine, by diminishing the fortunes of his closest associates. If Abramovich can still afford to keep Solaris and Eclipse fully crewed and regularly resupplied, and to stock up on fuel without actual plans of sailing them, these sanctions are clearly falling short of the effect intended.