Japan booked a trade deficit of $17.8 billion (2.82 trillion yen) from April to September, almost double the figure a year earlier, as the Middle East crisis made energy imports far more expensive for a resource-poor G7 economy, according to government data released on Wednesday.

The volume of petroleum imports fell 21.2 percent while the value surged 26.3 percent; the volume of petroleum products dropped 26.8 percent and the value rose 23.2 percent.