Alex Ossola

I'm joined now by journal reporter Kajal Vyas, who's in Bogota, Colombia.

Kajal, break down how exactly this would work.

What does it depend on for Venezuela to benefit from turning over its oil?

So it sounds like a pretty big opportunity here for Venezuela to re-enter the global economy.

What could stop this plan from happening?

So let's assume that the U.S.

does do what it says it's going to do and does give that money, the proceeds from the oil sales, to Venezuela.

What are some other challenges to restoring Venezuela's decimated economy?

That was journal reporter Kajal Vyas.

Thanks, Kajal.

And in Washington today, Trump met at the White House with some of those people he wants to invest in Venezuela, executives from nearly two dozen oil companies.

He was met with a lukewarm response.

Executives from Chevron, which already operates in Venezuela, as well as ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and other companies signaled that they were willing to examine new opportunities.

But they need security guarantees.

Exxon CEO Darren Woods said Venezuela is currently uninvestable without major changes to the country's commercial frameworks and its legal system.

But Exxon could have a technical team visit the country to assess the state of Venezuelan assets within the next couple of weeks.

In markets, the three major U.S.

indexes each rose by less than 1 percent, with the Dow and the S&P hitting their latest records.

Pharma company Merck is in talks to acquire Revolution Medicines in a deal that could value the cancer drug biotech company at $30 billion.

That's according to people familiar with the matter.