Petroceltic takes to the courts to uncover anonymous blogger

(Reuters) - Irish oil producer Petroceltic International Plc (PCI.I) has started legal action in the Irish courts to discover the identity of an anonymous blogger whom it says has made baseless allegations about the company.

The company, which is mired in a boardroom battle with largest shareholder Worldview Capital Management, said on Thursday it began an investigation after learning of allegations against the company on a blog.

"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 the allegations "relating to alleged fraud and corruption" at a Petroceltic project in Algeria.

The Irish Times reported earlier that Petroceltic was taking legal action against the company behind blogging platform, wordpress.com, to ascertain the identity of the blogger behind exposureandtruth.wordpress.com. (http://bit.ly/1EE7Ott)

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)