(Bloomberg) -- European natural gas edged lower amid muted expectations on how hard US President Donald Trump will be willing hit Russia’s energy trade if it fails to agree to a ceasefire by Friday.

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Benchmark futures slipped, trading around €34 a megawatt-hour and staying in a range that’s persisted for more than a month. A steady build-up of the region’s fuel reserves has helped keep concerns over supply risks at bay in recent weeks, even as the truce deadline nears.

While Trump has threatened to impose further economic penalties on Russia and buyers of its energy — potentially tightening the global supply pool and intensifying Europe’s competition — skepticism on how far the US president will go is keeping prices in check for now.

The Kremlin is weighing options for a concession that could include an air truce with Ukraine, just as Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is in Moscow to attempt to halt the fighting.

While any Russia-related action is unlikely to have a direct impact on European gas balances, traders are on alert for any threats to global supply. The continent is racing to store enough gas for winter, and has managed to accelerate injections in large part because demand from buyers such as China has been muted.

For now, the continent is receiving steady flows, with pipeline shipments from top supplier Norway near maximum capacity ahead of seasonal maintenance later this month. Liquefied natural gas flows are also above seasonal averages.

On Wednesday, traders will also be on the lookout for results to a storage auction in Germany, where its largest site in Rehden has been slow in building up reserves.

Dutch front-month futures, Europe’s gas benchmark, traded 1.3% lower at €33.95 a megawatt-hour at 9:34 a.m. in Amsterdam.

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