Suppose you have bought a bome that uses oil heating, and you have inherited some buried home heating oil tanks. What should you know about these things?
Not all oil heating systems use subterranean tankage, but those above ground are pretty easy to inspect. In the house buying scenario mentioned above, the survey will probably not have done much investigation into the oil tank.
Yet tanks do not last forever - in fact a life of ten to fifteen years is all that you should really expect of them. And although in the US Departments of Environmental Conservation do not tend to take all that much interest in residential tanks (you not generally have to register them, though this is not the case in all states), if the thing leaks the DEC will take an interest and the environmental damage will need to be put right.
Buried tanks fail usually due to rust. The heating oil itself does not cause rust - it is due to any water that gets into the tank. There are fuel additives that can help remove any water along with the fuel you use, supposing you are actively using the tanks for fuel storage. Your supplier will know about these.
The checking of buried tanks, along with the safe disposal or decommissioning is a specialist job - search on the Internet for a local expert or consult your fuel supplier who should be able to direct you in the right direction.