Oracle provides an Instant Client package that allows users to connect to an Oracle database without installing the full Oracle software. This guide outlines the steps to install the Oracle Client on a CentOS system.
This installation is same for all rpm based systems like (Centos/Fedora/RHEL/SLES/Opensuse/Mandriva..) This tutorial is about 11.2 version client, but should work even for 12.1 version.
See the Instant Client Home Page for more information about Instant Client. The installation instructions are at the foot of the page. Client-server version interoperability is detailed in Doc ID 207303.1.