AN INFLOW CONTROL VALVE FOR CONTROLLING THE FLOW OF FLUIDS INTO A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL PRODUCTION WELL AND METHOD OF USING THE SAME

摘要

An inflow control valve for controlling the flow of fluids into agenerally horizontal production well located in an underground reservoir,where the production well has a well casing, a production tubing locatedwithin the casing and an annulus between the production tubing and thecasing. The inflow control valve has a valve body having a threadedportion for connecting the valve body to the production tubing, a throughbore for connecting the valve body to an inside bore of said productiontubing and an outside surface. The valve also has at least one inletpassageway extending through the valve body between the outsidesurface and said through bore and an inlet opening on said at least oneinlet passageway formed on the outside surface of the valve body. Thevalve has a closure member for opening and closing said inlet opening,the closure member being located between the inlet opening and theannulus and a means to bias the closure member to an open positionwhen the inlet opening is submerged in a liquid to be recovered from thereservoir and to bias the closure member to a closed position in theabsence of the liquid at the inlet opening. A method of using such adevice in a an extraction process to recover underground hydrocarbons isalso disclosed.