GREELEY – Colorado has nearly 2,000 active gas and oil wells for every inspector and would need to add one inspector a year to keep up with recent trends, the state’s top energy industry regulator said Thursday.

Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Director Matt Lepore provided the statistics in response to questions from Gov. John Hickenlooper’s task force on how the industry is regulated. The panel was meeting in Greeley.

Lepore said later that about 1,800 new wells have been drilled in Colorado every year over the past five to seven years, but falling oil prices could slow that rate and change the number of additional inspectors needed.

Colorado has 1,959 active wells per inspector, a ratio that puts it in the middle of seven gas- and oil-producing states the commission surveyed. Alaska had the lowest ratio, about 370 wells per inspector. Wyoming had the highest, more than 2,900 wells per inspector.

The average of the seven states was about 1,670 wells per inspector.

The other states surveyed were North Dakota, with about 500 active wells per inspector, Ohio with 925, Texas with more than 2,340, and Utah with more than 2,660.

Lepore said he chose those states to survey because he has established relationships with regulators there or because they are nearby.

“I think that those are very representative ... at least of the region,” he said.

Hickenlooper formed the panel in September to look for solutions to disputes over local restrictions on drilling, how far wells must be from homes and how much control landowners should have over drilling.

The panel’s recommendations are due Feb. 27.

The formation of the panel kept four divisive measures off the November ballot, two that would have restricted hydraulic fracturing and two designed to accommodate it.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves pumping water, sand and chemicals underground to make it easier to extract gas and oil.