Aggressive cost-cutting helped prop up the bottom lines in the second quarter of two big Lower 48 midstream operators, Enable Midstream Partners LC and EnLink Midstream LLC, and expense control remains a high priority amid the shocks of the coronavirus pandemic and the demand destruction it created.

Oklahoma City-based Enable said it moved swiftly to align its expense base with lower revenue and volumes, as it told investors it would at the start of the second quarter.

“We’ve made good progress executing on our expansion capital and cost reductions we announced in early April,” CEO Rod Sailor said during the 2Q2020 earnings call on Wednesday. “On the cost front, we recently took steps to align our organizational structure,” resulting “in a reduction of 165 positions...