William Samuel Hugh Laidlaw (born 3 January 1956, Kensington) is the Executive Chairman of Neptune Energy, the independent E&P company.
He has been chairman of the Petroleum Science and Technology Institute, based in Aberdeen, a director of the National Engineering Laboratory and president of the United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association.
He chaired a report on business and higher education for the CBI in 2010 and led the inquiry into the failure of the competition for the West Coast Rail Franchise in 2012.
In 2015, he founded Neptune Energy, an international oil and gas exploration and production company, and is the firm’s first Executive Chairman.
He has also been a member of the UK Government’s Energy Advisory Panel, President of the UK Offshore Operators Association, a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group, the Senior Director for the Department of Transport and a non-executive director of both HSBC Holdings plc and Hanson plc.