Brazil's Lula seen finalizing Petrobras plan

* Valuation of oil likely to be announced Wednesday

* Price per barrel is a key step for capital plan

* Government, Petrobras at odds over valuation of oil

* Petrobras shares rise

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The Brazilian government is expected to announce on Wednesday how much it will charge state-controlled oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) (PBR.N) for crude reserves to be used in an oil-for-shares swap linked to a stock offering.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has a meeting scheduled in the afternoon with Finance Minister Guido Mantega and Mines and Energy Minister Marcio Zimmerman, a sign that final decisions on the operation would be hammered out.

"The decisions about the capitalization of Petrobras will come out today," Senator Delcidio Amaral of the ruling Workers' Party, a former Petrobras executive, said on his Twitter page.

The valuation of the oil is a crucial step to calculate the size of a capital injection program for Petrobras and the degree of dilution that minority shareholders could suffer in the capitalization. The government and the company are at odds over the price because the former is obliged by law to maximize the price of the resource to benefit the country's citizens who own below-ground natural resources.

Preferred shares of Petrobras, the company's most widely traded class of stock, rose for a second day, gaining 1 percent to 26.32 reais. Petrobras' American depositary receipts gained 2.3 percent to $34.13.

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Details of capitalization plan [ID:nN09151318]

Timeline of capital plan [ID:nN09127926]

Analysis on capital plan delay [ID:nN23205654]

Graphic link.reuters.com/quf29k

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Details of the deal are expected to be announced after the market closes. Petrobras' administrative council will also meet on Wednesday.

"It is expected (today). Things are going well," a source close to the talks told Reuters.

At stake is Petrobras' ability to finance its $224 billion, five-year investment plan to tap vast deep-water oil fields that Lula has said can help push Brazil into the ranks of developed countries.

Under the oil-for-shares capital program, the government will give Petrobras access to up to 5 billion barrels of offshore oil in exchange for shares in the company, while minority shareholders will buy stock to retain their stakes.

Petrobras and the government might be ready to create a range for the price of oil to speed up the completion of the capital injection, a source with knowledge of the talks told Reuters last week.

O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper said last week that Petrobras would settle for a price of $8.50 per barrel. The company denied the report.

Petrobras and analysts see $5 to $6 per barrel as a fair price, given the uncertainties of operating in the relatively untested deep waters. (Writing by Stuart Grudgings; Additional reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; editing by John Wallace)