NEW YORK Jan 7 2009 GLOBE NEWSWIRE Omagine Inc

Algeria and Slovenia both barely qualified and are very inexperienced in the World Cup, while England and USA qualified much more comfortably and will be expected to advance.Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, GhanaGermany got a fairly favorable draw should have no problems topping the group. Second place will be up for grabs as Australia, Serbia, and Ghana all have pretty equal chance of advancing. Australia have their Round of 16 experience in 2006 to draw from, Serbia managed to top their qualifying group ahead of France, and Ghana also finished in the Round of 16 in 2006.Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, CameroonGroup E is about as open as Group B. Seeded team Netherlands will definitely be favorites, but they will have tricky work ahead of them.

Denmark topped their qualifying group ahead of Portugal, Cameroon is the most experienced African side in the World Cup, and Japan was first Asian country to qualify.Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, SlovakiaDefending champs and perpetual slow starters Italy will be able to ease into the playoff stages from Group F. North Korea will be the punching bag of the group, but Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Portugal will have very difficult games against one another to avoid elimination. However, their next round will be very difficult when they face a team from the Group of Death. Switzerland and Chile will battle for second place, and Honduras will have an outside chance of advancing.. NEW YORK, Jan 7, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Omagine, Inc.

(OTCBB:OMAG)("Omagine") announced the signing of a $5 million Standby Equity DistributionAgreement ("SEDA") with YA Global Investments, L.P. ("YA").Pursuant to the SEDA, Omagine may, at its sole option and from time to time overa two year period, require YA to purchase shares of Omagine's common stock("Common Stock") and YA is obligated to purchase up to $5,000,000 of suchshares. Omagine will determine the timing and amount of such sales, if any, ofCommon Stock pursuant to the SEDA provided only that each such sale does notexceed $200,000 and occurs at least five trading days subsequent to any priorsale made pursuant to the SEDA. Omagine will file a registration statement withthe Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") covering the sales of CommonStock pursuant to the SEDA and all such sales may be made only subsequent tosuch registration statement being declared effective by the SEC.Omagine's President, Frank J. Drohan remarked: "The closing of the SEDArepresents the culmination of our plans prior to the signing of the DevelopmentAgreement with the Government of Oman and provides Omagine with maximumflexibility to fund its business.