Downloaded the client zip from OTN per the install doc on my laptop and then SCP'ed them to a linux VM
Once SCP'ed:
cd /opt/oracle
unzip instantclient-basic-linux.x64-12.1.0.2.0.zip
unzip instantclient-sdk-linux.x64-12.1.0.2.0.zip
mv instantclient_12_1 instantclient
cd instantclient
ln -s libclntsh.so.12.1 libclntsh.so
sudo yum install libaio1
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/oracle/instantclient:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
916  sudo vi /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracle-instantclient.conf to add /opt/oracle/instantclient/
  917  sudo ldconfig
export OCI_LIB_DIR=/opt/oracle/instantclient
export OCI_INC_DIR=/opt/oracle/instantclient/sdk/include
I don't have a proxy so proceeded to install:
sudo npm install oracledb (I had to use sudo, otherwise the install was hitting permission issues)
create a test select1.js to connect to a remove orcl instance
hit error at this point:
node_modules/oracledb/lib/oracledb.js:38
    throw err;
    ^

Error: Module did not self-register.
    at Object.Module._extensions..node (module.js:598:18)
    at Module.load (module.js:488:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:447:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:439:3)
    at Module.require (module.js:498:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:20:19)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/nnirnakar/test/node_modules/oracledb/lib/oracledb.js:35:19)
    at Module._compile (module.js:571:32)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:580:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:488:32)

I then try:
sudo rm -rf node_modules
sudo npm cache clean
sudo npm install oracledb
sudo npm rebuild
..but none of these help