* Rousseff to keep Gabrielli at helm of company
* CEO led $70 billion share offering this year (Adds details and background on Gabrielli)
BRASILIA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Jose Sergio Gabrielli will stay on as chief executive of Brazil's state-run oil firm Petrobras in President-elect Dilma Rousseff's administration, a source with direct knowledge of the decision told Reuters on Thursday.
"For now, things will stay as they are," the source, who
will be a member of Rousseff's cabinet, said when asked about
Gabrielli's future at Petrobras
Asked if there was a time limit on how long Gabrielli would stay in his post, the source said: "That's not being discussed."
Analysts widely expect him to stay on, though Gabrielli himself has said his tenure at the company is only guaranteed until the end of December when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's term ends. Rousseff takes office on Jan. 1.
A former economics professor who maintains close ties with the ruling Workers' Party, Gabrielli has been credited with providing returns for Petrobras shareholders while meeting government goals of using Petrobras to spur economic development in Brazil.
But his leadership of the company was criticized during the company's $70 billion share offering linked to an oil-for-shares swap with the government, which analysts called unfavorable to private shareholders. (Reporting by Leonardo Goy, Writing by Elzio Barreto and Todd Benson; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Tim Dobbyn)