Petroceltic says court orders deletion of "defamatory" blog

(Adds details from Petroceltic's updated statement, share close)

Aug 20 (Reuters) - Irish oil producer Petroceltic International Plc said on Thursday the Irish High Court had ordered the deletion of a blog after finding that its content had defamed the company.

Petroceltic, mired in a boardroom battle with its largest shareholder, Worldview Capital Management, started legal action to discover the identity of the anonymous blogger whom it said had made baseless allegations about the company.

Petroceltic said the court ordered the blog's host, Automattic, to immediately delete the blog and not allow any further posts from the blogger. The court also ordered that the blogger be identified, the company said.

Court officials did not immediately respond to requests to confirm the ruling.

A spokesman for Worldview declined to comment.

"On the basis of the investigation it has conducted to date, the company considers the allegations to be entirely baseless, untrue and defamatory," Petroceltic said in a statement.

Worldview has sought clarification from the company about allegations of "fraud and corruption" at a Petroceltic project in Algeria.

As part of a long-running dispute over management of the company, Worldview made a failed attempt in January to oust Chief Executive Brian O'Cathain from the board.

Petroceltic suspended a proposed $175 million bond issue earlier this month after Worldview said it could lead to bondholders securing key company assets below value.

The company's London-listed shares closed 7.4 percent lower at 50 pence on Thursday. (Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru and Conor Humphries in Dublin; Editing by Ted Kerr)